For two British women, the year 2026 has brought adventures that stretch far beyond the boundaries of their comfort zones—into the icy reaches of Antarctica and the rugged peaks of New Zealand. Both journeys, though separated by thousands of miles and very different climates, are united by a common thread: the drive to rediscover oneself after hardship, and the hope that their stories will inspire others to seize the opportunities life offers, no matter the odds.
Colleen O’Leary, a 48-year-old from Port Talbot, Wales, found herself at a crossroads not long ago. Her hometown, once bustling with the energy of Tata Steel and local businesses, was gripped by uncertainty. Job losses swept through the community, and Colleen herself was among those left searching for what came next. “Everyone was worried. The knock-on effect, the ripple effect, it’s massive,” she told Nation.Cymru, describing the anxious mood that had settled over Port Talbot.
Having recently sold her gym and facing unemployment, Colleen admits, “I was in a very low place. Very low. We didn’t know what we were going to do.” It was during this tumultuous period that a friend tagged her in a social media post advertising a new ITV reality show, The Summit. The premise was as daunting as it was alluring: fourteen contestants from across the UK would attempt to climb a mountain in the New Zealand Alps in just 14 days, carrying with them the hopes of winning a £200,000 prize.
Colleen, who had spent years working a patchwork of jobs—including time at the steelworks—decided to take the leap. “It just snowballed from there,” she recalled. For her, the show was about more than the cash prize. It was a chance to do something out of her comfort zone, to find herself again, and to show her children and community that adversity could be overcome. “I was in a place where I felt like I had let my family and my children down in the time of my life that I was in. And I thought – my town needs something now.”
But secrecy was part of the deal. Aside from her close family, Colleen had to keep her participation under wraps. Her friends at the gym, where she had trained for sixteen years, were left guessing. “Where’s Colleen?” they’d ask, to which her daughter would reply that she’d “gone to Thailand on a retreat.”
As the day of the climb approached, Colleen felt confident in her physical abilities but was apprehensive about the mental and strategic demands of the competition. “With me, I know my own capabilities, I know my own strengths. Physically I had no worries. But when things become a bit strategic, or you’re in an environment where you don’t know anyone – I do struggle there.” She didn’t mince words about her anxiety: “I was petrified from the off.” Still, she pressed on, motivated by her children and the need to prove to herself that she could rise to the challenge. “I needed to do as good as I possibly could – just for myself – to find myself again, because I had literally lost myself.”
Colleen’s message to viewers is one of hope and resilience. “I’m a middle-aged woman from a small town. If I can do something like this – then I just want to give some people hope. And to give back to my town.” She’s quick to reject the notion that age or societal milestones should define a person’s path. “I’m not a conventional woman. You don’t have to meet milestones at milestone times. You don’t have to have a job and a home by 25. People develop in different ways – I am still developing now, and I am nearly 50.”
Her advice for anyone doubting themselves? “Even if you think to yourself, ‘oh, I can’t do something like that’, just take the opportunity. Just go for it. You don’t know how your life is going to change.” Reflecting on her journey, Colleen is candid about her mistakes and her pride in overcoming them. “I am super proud of myself. I’ve made loads of mistakes. I’m still making mistakes. But it’s about the ability to dust yourself off and carry on.” When asked if she’d do it all again, her answer is emphatic: “absolutely.”
Meanwhile, in the frozen expanse of Antarctica, another British woman was facing her own test of courage and endurance. Julia Bradbury, the 55-year-old TV presenter known for her travel and nature programs, returned to screens with Julia Bradbury’s Wonders Of The Frozen South, an ITV series filmed in one of the world’s most unforgiving environments. For Julia, the trip was more than a professional assignment—it was a deeply personal milestone.
In 2021, Bradbury was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. The experience left her physically weakened and emotionally raw. “After a breast cancer diagnosis and mastectomy in 2021, I didn’t think I’d ever be brave enough to leave the safety of my home and family to do something like this again,” she told the Daily Mail. “I was so weak physically, and so emotionally raw, that the idea of testing myself, of making this kind of TV show and being so far away from my partner and our children seemed impossible.”
Yet, five years after her diagnosis, Julia found herself in Antarctica, surrounded by pink skies, towering icebergs, and the haunting presence of a solitary humpback whale. The journey marked a pivotal point in her recovery. “To achieve it five years after cancer felt like a pivotal point in my recovery, proof I could return to the adventures that I love.”
During filming, nature delivered a dramatic moment: an enormous chunk of ice calved off an iceberg and plunged into the ocean right behind the crew. “We could feel its wake juddering us as we started speeding off. It was one of those moments you don’t expect to capture on camera. We were lucky to have been there – and lucky to have been 30 seconds away in the right direction or we might have got a lot wetter. But what a privilege to be able to see that.”
Bradbury’s emotional honesty was on full display during the shoot. When she broke down in tears, her production team asked if they should stop filming. She insisted the footage remain. “I said no, because it felt OK to tell the truth. The sky was pink in the Antarctic summer, there were icebergs on the horizon and a solitary humpback whale, idling about and blowing spouts. I was sitting there thinking, ‘When I’m old, this is something I want to tell my grandchildren about…’ and that made me realise that I was living my second life, the one after cancer, to the full.”
For both Colleen O’Leary and Julia Bradbury, the journey was never just about reaching the summit or the South Pole. It was about reclaiming life after adversity, confronting fear, and, above all, showing others that it’s never too late to take a chance. Whether on a windswept Welsh mountain or the icy plains of Antarctica, their message rings clear: seize the opportunity, embrace the unknown, and remember that the adventure of a lifetime might be just around the corner.