Dr. Bridie O’Donnell is a medical doctor, former professional cyclist, world record breaker, author, broadcaster, leader and champion for women in sport.

Bridie has had many experiences in her life; the common theme is her passion for being the best version of herself, not content to be just a doctor. Bridie became an elite national rower, competed in the Hawaii Ironman World Triathlon Championship, and became a professional cyclist.

In her 30s, Bridie made the extraordinary decision to pursue professional cycling, eventually racing internationally, representing Australia at three UCI Road World Championships and competing at the highest levels of the sport.

In her 40s, she did something even more remarkable. In January 2016, Bridie took on one of cycling’s ultimate tests of endurance and mental strength: the UCI Women’s Hour Record. Over 60 relentless minutes at Adelaide’s Super-Drome, she rode 46.882 kilometres, breaking the world record by more than 600 metres.

But the record is only part of her story.

Since retiring from professional cycling, Bridie has become a powerful voice for equality and women in sport, served in senior government leadership roles, written Life and Death: A Cycling Memoir, and become the first woman to commentate the Tour de France for SBS. This is a conversation about going all in on your life, resilience, equality for women in sport, and having the courage to reinvent yourself.

Check out the links If you want to find out more about Dr. Bridie

● Instagram: hhttps://www.instagram.com/bridie_od/

● LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridieodonnell/

Simon Eastaugh is a former AFL player, coach, football executive and leader.

Originally drafted to Richmond as a teenager, Simon’s path to the AFL was far from straightforward. After an injury-interrupted start, he rebuilt his career in South Australian football, helped Norwood to a premiership, and eventually returned to the AFL to play for Essendon and Fremantle.

Retirement was far from the end of Simon’s football story. He quickly moved into coaching.

At West Coast, he worked with players such as Jack Darling and Jeremy McGovern. In 2012, he coached Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui, who both earned All-Australian selection, the first and only time two ruck men from the same club have been selected in the same All-Australian team.

At Fremantle, as a ruck and midfield assistant coach, he worked with players including Nat Fyfe, Lachie Neale, David Mundy and Brad Hill, along with ruck man Aaron Sandilands and now head coach Justin Longmuir.

His career has also taken him beyond the traditional football department, into leadership, community development and helping create pathways for the next generation of players.

Simon has first-hand knowledge of some of the sport’s greatest leaders and coaches, including Kevin Bartlett, Kevin Sheedy and John Worsfold. Speaking of coaches, Simon now faces his greatest coaching challenge... coaching his 14-year-old son’s junior football team for the Mighty Melville Junior Football Club.

● Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sjeastaugh/

● LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/simon-eastaugh-b36a67217

● X (Twitter): https://www.threads.com/@sjeastaugh

Dr Lydia Johns Putra is a surgeon, medical leader, humanitarian and Hero of one of New Zealand’s most devastating natural disasters, the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

A respected Australian urologist, Lydia has built a remarkable career spanning medicine, surgical leadership, education and humanitarian service. Lydia is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. She has held senior leadership roles within the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand, helping shape the next generation of surgeons.

But Lydia’s story goes far beyond the operating theatre. In the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, she and over 400 Australian doctors found themselves at a conference in the city on the day of the earthquake. On that horrendous day, not many people ran toward the epicentre of the quake. Lydia did, helping provide medical aid to a man trapped in a collapsed building. Lydia, a firefighter, a police medic, and an anaesthetist worked together to save his life; all were presented with New Zealand’s highest Bravery Decorations in 2014.

Lydia has also taken her surgical skills into some of the world’s most challenging environments, volunteering with Australian Doctors for Africa in Madagascar, where she has helped deliver surgery and training to local medical teams, a passion she continues to this day.

Lydia’s story is ultimately about much more than surgery. It is about courage under pressure, leadership, resilience, service and what it really means to step up when other people are depending on you.

Luke Richmond is a professional adventurer, author, endurance athlete and world record holder.

He grew up in the Australian outback and joined the Army at 17, serving with 1RAR and deploying to East Timor. After four years he packed it in, chasing the next challenge overseas, and ended up in the UK.

The move out of military life didn't go the way he planned. Heavy drinking and drug use followed, and eventually rockbottom: addiction, and time in one of Her Majesty's prisons.

That became the turning point. Luke moved to Thailand to train Muay Thai full time and detox his body and mind from the ground up.

Since then he's climbed the highest peak on six continents, survived minus 60 degrees in Antarctica, rowed across the Atlantic and set a world record doing it, and trekked 1,800km across Mongolia's Gobi Desert, dragging his wife along to stress test their marriage.

But the real story isn't the mountains or the ocean. It's the gap between what we think we can handle and what we're actually capable of.

Through his books, expeditions and speaking, Luke talks about fear, suffering, resilience and how little time we actually have.

His philosophy comes down to two words: One Chance.

Learn more about Luke:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/olocadventures

Instagram - @luke_olocadventures

Website - www.olocadventures.com

Blake and the team sit down to discuss the conversation with Mark Direen, their takeaways, key learns, as well as heading down a few philosophical rabbit holes. In the chat the team talk through Mark's 20 years in the Australian Army, from infantry sniper with 1 RAR to passing SASR selection in 1997, and how he recovered from being seriously wounded by an IED in Afghanistan in 2007 to return to operational service. They also unpack what almost two decades in Afghanistan taught him about its people and culture, his transition into expedition guiding in places like Mongolia and Papua New Guinea, and how founding Point Assist, writing What's the Point? and creating Dog Tag Whiskey reflect his belief in continuous learning and adapting after adversity.