Ocean Rower GB Triathlete Yacht Skipper Ultrarunner Cancer Survivor Mother

Liz Mayon-White speaks about her story of;

Setting Challenges
Overcoming Setbacks
Reframing and Resilience

Read Liz's Story

Speaking Engagements

liz@lizmw.co.uk

Speaking Engagements

Goal Setting & Challenges

You don't have to have a dream, or know what you want to be in life!

I certainly did not. But I have always had a thirst for life and for adventure.

I am a strong believer that we never find out who we truly are, unless we take time out of our comfort zones and challenge ourselves.

We should never stop learning and never stop developing.

We are never 'fully formed' ... and we should never stop challenging ourselves!

Setbacks & Reframing

Goal Setting & Challenges

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” - Epictetus

Whoever you are and whatever you do, life will always always throw curveballs at you.

I believe that life is all about experiencing everything, both the good and the bad.

We are a series of building blocks that make us the people that we become. And without the lows we can never really appreciate the highs.

So ... How do we reframe? How do we prevent ourselves from getting lost in the lows'

How do we keep on smiling and keep on putting one foot in front of the other?

Resilience

Goal Setting & Challenges

Resilience

I have chosen my own unique ways to challenge myself.

But, at times, my greatest accomplishments are overcoming those challenges that have 'chosen me'!

I am, a great believer that 'everything happens for a reason' and whilst I have encountered setbacks, breakages, traumas and injuries, I believe that these are all essential building blocks, to make me the person that I am today.

We have 'ONE PRECIOUS LIFE' and we have an obligation to experience as much as we can, in order to become the best version of ourselves!

About Liz

“A Life Less Ordinary”

Liz’s positive drive to live life to the full has led her to meet her challenges head on.

Qualifying as a Yachtmaster Instructor aged just 21, she went on to lead sailing expeditions around the UK before sailing solo to Greece.

In 2005-06 she took on the might of the Atlantic Rowing Race, along with her fiancée. Encountering hurricanes, tropical storms, whales, serious injuries, capsizes and equipment failure, before reaching the Caribbean and becoming the 13th woman ever to row an ocean and the first woman in history row into Antigua.

Not being one to rest on her laurels, and whilst holding down a full time job and tackling (possibly the hardest challenge of them all) ‘motherhood’, she then returned to her passion of triathlon and Ironman events.

In 2018 she qualified to represent GB in her age group at both Olympic and Ironman distances and raced in the GB colours from 2018-2022.

It was at the World Championships in Abu Dhabi in November 2022 that Liz first noticed a rapidly growing lump on her tonsil which coincided with a neck lump on the same side, and following a series of investigations, she was diagnosed with throat cancer 4 weeks later.

Liz underwent a brand new 7-week, million-pound, trial treatment of proton beam therapy at The Christie Hospital in Manchester in 2023, which left her with radiotherapy burns both inside and outside her throat.

Whilst now in remission, she remains under the care of the hospital and will live with the life-changing side effects of this treatment forever. But wasting no time, Liz is now back taking on ultra marathon running and is planning her next 100km event later this year, with sights on 100 milers in the future.

Liz talks with honesty and humility about the challenges she has faced in life. Both those that she has chosen and those that life has chosen to throw at her. She describes finding joy in all the small things, her coping mechanisms, never settling for ‘okay’ and the drive to always keep moving forward, that can be applied across all walks of life.