Staff Spotlight: Dani - Wild Earth Manager, Mum and Adventure Racer

Dani is the Manager of Wild Earth Brisbane, mother and keen adventure racer. In the lead up to this Mother's Day, we had the opportunity to chat with her about her outdoor adventures and how they’ve been a source of inspiration for her daughters. 

I’m the mother of 2 girls (now 16 and 18) and currently living with them and my husband in Brisbane North. 

Aside from managing The Wild Earth Brisbane Store, I love getting outdoors and putting my hat in for all kinds of outdoor activities.

After having my daughters I was feeling very flat and tired all the time so I wanted to get fit and that journey led to me competing in Obstacle Races like Spartan and Tough Mudder. These events often have a kid's course and that allowed me to bring the girls along to some of the events both so they could have a go for themselves and also so they could see me taking on these challenges. 

Over the course of my daughter's growing up, I  was keen to show them that women are super strong and can do anything competing in a wide variety of different sports from Obstacle Course Racing (Spartan/Tough Mudder etc) to Trail Running and Adventure Racing.

After a few years, obstacle racing wasn't giving me enough of a challenge and that's when I found out about Adventure Racing, I was enticed by the variation and the navigation side of the races which meant that you never did anything the same. I took my eldest on a few short local family-style races but she wasn't super keen to continue. 

These events have seen me complete the inaugural Blackall 50km Trail Ultra in 2014, Spartan Trifecta in Hawaii in 2015, GeoQuest (48hr Adventure Race), ARWS World Championship Adventure race in Shoalhaven NSW in 2016 (7 day adventure race) and numerous other races around Australia.

I have involved my daughters in races as much as possible from Spartan Kids and smaller family-based adventure races to just being there to see me cross the finish line. 

Choosing to be involved in long-distance sports like Adventure racing can mean making sacrifices, both in the time to train and the time away to compete, I just hope my girls grow up to understand that life is for living and they too develop a passion for getting involved in anything that makes you feel alive! All of the adventures and the amazing places I've been able to experience would mean nothing if I couldn't share them with my girls and hopefully inspire them to get outdoors and have a go at anything no matter how big the challenge may appear to be. 

Covid lockdowns saw most races stopping and I took a 5 year break from adventure racing. I’m now almost 46 years old and restarting adventure racing, running with short courses and a 24hr race coming up the weekend before Mother's Day aiming to continue to set a solid example for my now almost adult daughters. 

Not sure what to get Mum this Mother’s Day? Chat to our friendly team of Outdoor Gear Specialists in-store or online today and don’t forget to share your adventures with us on Instagram by tagging @wildearthaustralia and #mywildearth in your next post.