Lucy Bartholomew

"Be confident in your direction and try to shift perspective that things don't happen TO you, they happen FOR you."

Q. Thanks for interviewing with us. Tell everyone who you are and what you do.

A. My name is Lucy Bartholomew, I am 25 years old from Melbourne, Australia and I am a professional ultra-trail runner who loves being in nature, cooking, connecting with people and smiling.

Q. Tell us a little about your journey and how you got to where you are today?

A. I ran my first 100km side by side with my Dad, he inspired me to try this and I loved it. From there I gained confidence to run alone and started to try and compete. I left high school and travelled to run around the world to try and find what I wanted to “do”. I ended up finding out that running is what I want to do and so it became not just my passion and purpose but my profession.

Q. How do you define your purpose in life?

A. I define my purpose in life as; shooting my shot in whatever areas I want to pursue and no matter the outcome sharing the success, the learnings and authentically remaining truthful to how wildlife is.

Q. Let’s talk about the movie “Running Out” and the motivation behind the movie?

A. during lockdown I dreamt up the project to run 230km

on the Larapinta trail in the heart of Australia. I met Josh and Bryan who captured the movie but also experienced the will adventure with me and it all sort of fell into place in a time where it felt like everything was going crazy.

For me the motivation behind the movie was to go back to my “why” of running, to share an authentic piece about how brutal and beautiful running can be and show off this incredibly stunning part of Australia.

Q. What is your most memorable achievement or accomplishment you’ve received in your life?

A. I have so many memories of good and hard times that it is hard to choose one that stands out. I am really grateful for that. I would say crossing the finish line of my first 100k at age 15 with my Dad was an incredible experience where I didn’t know if I could do it or not and then when I did, I asked myself “what else can I do”.

Q. What is some of the hardships you went through in your career?

A. There are always going to be challenges when you put your full heart into anything. It means you care and it means you are remaining authentic and thus vulnerable. I have had hard races, mental blocks, confidence lost, injuries and challenging situations; physically, mentally, emotionally. But they have all added tools to my toolbox of ways to handle anything that is thrown at me in the future.

Q. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?

A. I would love to go to Antarctica. I think from an environmental aspect I don’t think it will ever be what it is today so I would love to see it and experience that climate.

Q. What advice can you give to the next generation of female leaders?

A. Shoot your shot, back yourself and be you. People will have opinions about who you are, what you do, or what you should do. Be confident in your direction and try to shift perspective that things don’t happen TO you, they happen FOR you.

Q. Are you working on any new events or projects?

A. Currently no, I am hoping to spend 2022 back on start lines and racing hard around the world but I have dreams of other projects already swirling in my mind.

Q. Where can the readers follow you?

A. The best place is on Instagram @lucy_Bartholomew or I am on Strava, Facebook and have a website: https://www. lucybartholomew.com