Britain’s top sporting heroes come together to celebrate the launch of Horizon Forbidden West | GLAMOUR UK

[Voiceover] Pegi 16.

[mystical music]

It's so important to have female role models like this.

To you were that pushes you forward

to become the best version of yourself.

I actually really want to enjoy the journey that I'm on.

So it's not just about the end goal,

it's about enjoying every step along the way.

Personally, I always need something to strive for

whether that's in the water or out of the water.

Hello, I'm Elle Osili-Wood.

I'm thrilled to be joined by this frankly incredible group

of driven and talented women,

here today for a round table discussion

inspired by Aloy, the equally driven, strong,

and skillful young woman

at the heart of Horizon Forbidden West,

a new game for the PS4 and PS5,

and the eagerly awaited sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn.

Today, we'll be diving into what it takes to be a leader,

to push yourself to your very limits,

and what and who you need to be able to achieve your goals.

So let's start at the beginning.

I think it's safe to say with the big pictures behind us

that Aloy is a bit of an icon,

you know, her bravery, her curiosity,

her compassion has inspired gamers across the world.

So let's talk about inspiration.

Shauna, I'll come to you first,

who or what has inspired you in your career?

For me, inspiration has always been drawn

from the people around me.

So what I see in my everyday life

whether it's my sisters doing a degree part-time

while she's working full time,

or someone climbing for their very first time

and achieving something they thought they couldn't do.

I think with games and TV and everything

that's around us to be able to take inspiration

and aspire to go and achieve something,

I think that's pretty magical

and I think that's why it's so important

to have female role models like this.

For me, it's the past that inspires me

to push forward to become something better

and to explore different parts of myself.

But it's like you said, it's everyone around you.

It's who you were that pushes you forward

to become the best version of yourself.

For me, it's who I've been inspired by

is actually like my little niece.

You know, she's six years old

and I want her growing up in a world

filled with strong, powerful, ambitious women,

especially in relation to like sports

and physical activities.

Do you remember who inspired you growing up

or is it a similar thing where you're kind

of looking for those smaller points of inspiration?

Yeah, my mom. My mom inspired me.

She likes up my life.

She lights up my day.

She's proud of me and she's inspired by me

and that in turn inspires me back.

That's something else that I find really inspiring

about Aloy in particular

is the way that she tackles new challenges.

And I think, you know, when you are playing that game,

you do see her come up against things

she's never experienced before

and it's the way that she kind of throws herself

into them that I find quite inspiring.

So let's tackle that ourselves, challenges.

Sarah, I'll start with you.

How do you take on a new challenge?

How do you prepare?

What do you need to think about?

So I actually start, go back to basics.

It comes down to like research and planning.

Like once I know what it is that I'm gonna be doing.

So whether it's like running Marathon des Sables

or through hiking Appalachian Trail.

I think actually what would be really good

is if you told us about Marathon des Sables

because I feel like people watching might not understand

the enormity of the challenge you are talking about there.

So the Marathon des Sables is when you run six marathons

in six days across the Sahara Desert,

carrying everything you need on your on your back basically.

It was named by the Discovery Channel

as like one of the toughest foot races in the world.

So how do you prepare for something like this?

You know, it's almost like so extreme.

So for me it was researching,

it was finding other people who'd done it before,

it was reading blog posts, reading books, going on YouTube.

So I really understood what I was taking on.

I actually headed out to Australia for three months

to do three months of running.

And I think it was during a heat wave.

So it was like 35, 36 degrees.

And everyone else, you know during 12 o'clock

and one o'clock they'd be like,

Oh no, we're staying inside.

You know, normal like normal people.

Exactly.

[indistinct]

Yeah. Backpack on, water, two liters, midday sun

and I was out running for like four or five hours.

And just like everyone was looking at me like,

You must be crazy.

And I was like, This is the best training ever.

I do like more long term expeditions

where I become conditioned during the journey.

It's not like a race for me.

It's a long term, like more mind game.

So if I know if I get two weeks in,

I'm just gonna be thinking, Why didn't I eat that cake?

I had that cake in front of me and I didn't eat it.

I know full well the best thing that I can do

is enjoy every single moment

whilst I have that opportunity in front of me

because it's not gonna be there in like a few months time.

For me, it's always been about knowing what that goal is

and then the preparation around that.

So, you know kind of what it is that you wanna achieve.

You know when the events are.

It's all quite structured you know it's kind of,

there's a lot of research that's going in the past.

People that have done it before you

and you're suddenly kind of part of a process.

That kind of environment like elite level sport, I guess

is very much how many people have you got around you?

How many people are gonna try and help you

and you go and speak to them

and you go and get as much information as you can from them.

Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Don't be afraid to ask for help.

And that's the kind of the best thing that I've learned

as I've grown up through it,

is if I want something done I need to go and ask somebody

to help me do it.

So preparing for Tokyo Olympics,

the water temperature was gonna be about 30 degrees.

It was very hot water

and I was swimming for two hours in it.

So we had to do hot baths on poolside

when I got out of a training session,

get into like 42 degree water,

stay in it for as long as I could

so I could acclimatize that kind of heat.

And I needed support scientists to help me do that

'cause I had chicken out of it a lot earlier,

you know you've got someone there telling you

like just do five more minutes.

Whereas I wanted to dip out and you know,

I was on one time this close to passing out,

I was hanging out in the bath like this,

like just praying for it to end.

It's obviously we've talked about challenges,

but sometimes a challenge can feel insurmountable, can't it?

There's a point where you look at something and think,

Okay, there's no way I'm doing this.

Sarah, where do you start with tackling something

that feels like it's just gonna be too big?

You know, it comes down to almost for me,

I especially realized at Marathon des Sables

it was a choice I'd made.

Like I chose to be here.

You know, I've paid money to be here.

And I also have a choice over my attitude.

You know, I don't wanna be miserable

being out in the desert, running this race,

sort of complaining about it.

Like I'm here to enjoy myself.

I'm here to have fun.

And so it was coming back to this, like this is a choice.

So it's almost like that mindset, you know what's going on.

And for me it was choosing to be really, really grateful.

Thinking this is what I'm doing with my life.

I'm running under this glorious sunshine,

competing, running, and just having an incredible time.

I spent six months cycling.

I had people sort of come in and out,

so I didn't really have a support network as such,

I felt very alone through most of that journey.

But I think also having sort of like totems or anything.

And for me it was a bit of Christmas cake.

I literally, there were points that I didn't have any food.

I went into it 'cause I did the whole thing

without any money to raise money and awareness

for an organization in Paraguay

for children that live in the streets.

So I had to go and go through bins and find food,

pick food off the side of the road.

They were like guavas and every single guava had maggots in

and in my tent, I would look at this cake and go,

Tomorrow could be worse.

And I'm gonna eat this cake when it's my worst day.

And as long as I didn't eat the cake,

I knew that things could get worse.

Like you're saying, things could be worse.

So this cake became a symbol of it's not that bad.

It could get worse.

Time to finish this.

Glad to see me.

You bet.

Well, we've talked about the struggles.

We've got those, we've done the maggots.

We've talked about the hard times.

Let's talk about the good times.

Alice, I'm gonna come to you first.

What does success look like to you?

And importantly, where do you go

after you've achieved a big goal?

Because it's not just about getting there, is it?

Yeah, I think this is a big thing

for a lot of people is, you know

you achieve that goal and then you look around afterwards

and you're like, Okay, what next?

Like, do you set another goal?

Do you just bask in it?

And it's a mixture of both, I suppose.

Personally, I always need something to strive for

whether that's in the water or out of the water.

Even just like little things in life,

you know it's nice to set yourself something

and then achieve it.

And if you miss it, it's not that big of a deal hopefully,

but you just reassess, you learn what you did wrong,

and you go again.

I remember when I finished Marathon des Sables

and I, you know, crossed the finish line.

I got this medal around my neck,

you know, something I'd been working towards for 18 months

and I'm not joking,

I had maybe like three seconds of joy where I was like,

Yes. Oh my God, this is amazing.

But then straight away my brain went,

All right. We've done that. What's next?

Really? Yeah.

But it actually, it really made me reflect

because I thought actually do know what

I don't want to go through life

just having these like high peaks

and incredibly emotional moments.

Like I actually really want to enjoy the journey

that I'm on so it's not just about the end goal,

it's about enjoying every step along the way,

which is why for my next challenge

I ended up doing the Appalachian Trail

because that was a three month journey.

And yes, I did want to reach the end.

Yes, I did want to reach Mount Katahdin

but actually it was about enjoying

about a hundred day in the wilderness,

you know walking 22 miles a day solo and unsupported.

I flipped my definition of success

so that it wasn't just the end result.

It was the enjoying the journey for me.

It's really easy to get confused with self worth

and success and people kind of tie their self worth

to success so frequently that if you're not successful,

you can't be happy.

And it's something that I was really fortunate

to learn as a young athlete.

If you tie your self worth to that success,

that goal, that kind of podium position,

then you are only ever gonna be happy

when you're stood on that podium.

Literally the moment you step off, that's it.

It's done, it's gone, it's what's next.

And yeah, for me success is actually defining

what my self worth is away from what typical success is.

And I guess there's so many different levels

of success as well.

Now I was just thinking like how kitted up Aloy is

and I know with expeditions like,

and you as well, the joy on an expedition

is directly proportional to how much weight

you are carrying.

My success for me on a daily basis is how slim

can I get my kit?

How many things can I ditch?

Because the less things I'm carrying,

they're happier it's gonna make me in a day.

And I started my cycling four panniers and a trailer.

And the day I shifted that trailer

was like the biggest success for me.

Alice obviously, you've talked about the importance

of having this team around you,

how integral it is to what you do.

And I think that's a really interesting point

to pick up on because in Horizon Forbidden West,

we're going to see Aloy encounter tons of new tribes,

lots new people, and she's going to have to figure out

who to trust, who she can work with.

And obviously, I'm interested in how you do that yourself

because you know, Shauna, I'll come to you first.

You obviously have a team that's very important

to what you do.

So what do you look for when you are deciding

who to bring on board?

I'm all about trust and honesty and communication.

My husband likes to remind me

that people can't read my mind,

which is really irritating cause it'd be so useful

if everybody could.

And that team and the bonding kind of goes beyond

just the team that I work with professionally,

like my family and my husband, you know

working together as a team for me to achieve my goals

as well as him to achieve his, you know,

and I think that coming back to that kind of trust,

communication, and honesty,

they're the pillars that kind of always have

like strengthened any relationship in my life.

So for me, it's all about those kind of three pillars

of trust, communication, and honesty.

The last exhibition that I did to locate

the source of the Essequibo River in Guyana

and then make a world first assent by kayak.

It was because I was the leader

I had more control over who I picked and who was in my team.

It wasn't sort of who's the best one available,

I'll learn to sort of communicate their language

and get on with them.

If you can genuinely like stare

and look at someone in the eye and just think...

I know, it's awkward but I just saw you like,

do you drink your tea a bit funny?

Is that gonna annoy me?

And you have to kind of simulate in your head

these really stressful situations

where you cannot get away from them,

like sitting across the Atlantic.

It was me two guys and a cat.

And it was like for pretty much two months

and you can't move away.

And it's just making sure that those team members

you can be in that really high stress situation

and be able to move through

all of that sort of communication to find a resolution.

I do most of my challenges like solo and unsupported

but that doesn't mean to say that you're not gonna meet

and connect with people

because you do sort of like on the Appalachian Trail,

you can meet up with like trail angels

and people who come along and deliver food to you.

So I do think it would be very stressful though

to do challenges with other people.

I've done a couple with them.

I think there's this though, very sweet

like honeymoon period, the first two weeks

where everything is absolutely fine and wonderful.

And then after that, it gets really, really challenging.

Alice for you, I guess that's quite different

because you need a team for what you do, don't you?

My races rely on somebody literally feeding me

whilst I swim past them,

so I need someone on this pontoon

holding a five meter long stick with cup holders on the end.

I swim past, I'm swimming up to it.

I pick up the drink, you know, pick it up,

turn on my back, drink, drop it,

and then keep swimming again.

Let's talk about what else we need to do our jobs.

Cause we've touched on teams.

We've talked about the importance

or the importance of doing it by ourselves.

But you know, we mentioned earlier,

Aloy is as you can see kitted out.

She's got tons of tools.

She's very resourceful.

There's so much that she relies on

to help get her journey.

So I'm interested if you have tools that you think

are important to you whether that's kind of physical

or metaphorical, you know, Alice?

I like to relax.

I think I use that as a tool, like doing nothing.

I love playing video games.

I'm really excited to play this, actually.

I need to unwind.

I need to like take a step back

from everything that's going on in life.

Mine is my phone.

Like I know it's bad to be like addicted to my phone

but like I've been on like...

I think I'm the sometimes like the world's worst adventurer

because like I forget the batteries to my head torch.

So I do use my phone for light, for music, for podcasts

for watching Netflix in the evening as well in the tent.

So, you know, you can download it.

Looking at these photos of Aloy

and the sort of the golden gate bridge with all the jungle,

I can connect to that so much

minus the golden gate bridge of course,

but the upper Essequibo is prehistoric,

like a handful of people, five people maybe

have been on stretch of river and it was truly magical.

I always thought that I'd see dinosaurs coming out

of this pristine virgin jungle.

But yeah, with the tools, I can't rely on my phone

in a lot of the places that I go,

we don't have signal so we have to go

really back to basics and with tools that I carry,

they have to have multiple different uses.

I don't have space or the capacity to carry individual tools

for individual things.

Like my machete, I still use that at home.

It's such a versatile tool.

You can use them for like really close contact things.

Firewood, when you go into jungle,

you always take it for defense.

What I do is extremely reliant on tools,

and obviously that will always change

whether you're in cold weather or jungle.

Shauna can you follow that up?

We feel like I live in such a different world.

We all do. Yeah.

And if I think about competing

and like my comp bag like what I would take to compete,

it's probably more than you would take for three months

in the jungle, you know.

Like it's a ridiculous amount of stuff,

and people always come to me like other competitors

'cause they know I always have spares of things.

Like I always have so many snacks,

like snacks are like my my best tools.

You know, I always need snacks around.

Obviously we have our climbing gear

and it definitely doesn't look as impressive as Aloy's.

But then aside from all of that,

I think like Alice was saying having the ability

to switch off and relax and shift that focus.

So like mental tools as well.

For me, it really does come back to like checking in

with how you are really feeling,

that emotion and then communicating that.

And I think they're really important tools

if you wanna pursue something and wanna push yourself.

I wanna do kind of a fun last question

where we take inspiration from Aloy's incredible toolkit,

which we've all been very envious of.

And what would you pick?

You know, if you could have a characteristic

or something that she uses

and I feel like you know that Laura,

you already have her toolkit, so.

I'm gonna go for her eyebrows.

I do not have her eyebrows,

but I must say that archery, her archery kit

and the uniqueness, the tribalness of her gear

is something to be envied.

Yeah. It's gorgeous. Isn't it?

Shauna. How about you?

You know, I'm just gonna go with what Laura said

because I feel like if anyone's gonna survive anything,

it's gonna be Laura.

I'm just sharing with what she said.

I like it. That's a very good idea

Sarah, how about you?

I want Aloy's skill of climbing, like how she moves.

This is so fluid.

Alice for you, what would you pick?

I'd pick her archery skills.

I think being able to use a bow and arrow is so cool.

And especially in the world and environment she lives in

being able to fend for yourself

obviously looks so important.

So yeah, I definitely pick that.

I know I'd like to think that ISB

has accomplished as she is with the bow,

but I know I wouldn't.

Same.

Well, I'm sad to say that's all we've got time for.

I mean, it's been so lovely to have this conversation.

I think it's felt so inspiring, so insightful.

And you know, I'm hoping that if you're watching at home,

you feel as inspired as I do.

We've had so many different experiences,

different stories shared,

and like Aloy in Horizon Forbidden West,

I hope you are feeling inspired enough

to set out on an adventure

[Voiceover] PlayStation.