I am an anthropologist interested in human locomotor performance: running, walking, swimming, climbing and diving.

 

Growing up in the woodlands of the UK, early trips to the mountains of the Lake District inspired me to begin training and testing myself in long-distance running and swimming. Later I discovered rockclimbing, and the underwater freedom of breath-hold diving. As old as the human species itself, to me these these disciplines are the freedom of human expression in its wildest form, the fabric by which we experience the earth’s wild places most purely.

 

Later, after finishing an undergraduate in human evolution, I began travelling, seeking knowledge and teachings from world-class athletes and traditional societies, supplemented by my own (often thoroughly uncomfortable) self-experimentation. I’ve been fortunate to research and travel a wide variety of cultures and environments, from ultramarathons in the steaming heat of Fiji to the jungle tribes of Peninsular Malaysia. In each case, from hunter-gatherers to adventure athletes, locomotion is central to our identity—individually, culturally and as a species.

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Currently I'm based at the University of Cambridge, researching a PhD on human locomotor performance. I work at the interplay of biological anthropology and sports science, combining hunter-gatherer studies with data from elite athletes around the world to understand the evolutionary basis of running, climbing, diving and swimming performance.

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This website is a way for me to tell my stories: a place to share with you the insights, joys and mishaps of my humble adventures, and raise awareness of the incredible physical and mental potential we all possess. I hope it inspires others to look towards their own potential: to live on the edge and in the moment—to truly be alive, rather than simply live.