‘BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY’

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A spectacular and inspiring journey from Exhibitionist to Expeditionist

Description

‘Both Sides of the Story‘ is a new dual talk by Tarka, an established motivational speaker, and Katie-Jane. This is a unique opportunity to be captivated and entertained by TWO perspectives of one of the greatest journeys along the Great Wall of China ever undertaken. This sensationally acclaimed talk not only paints a vivid picture of their journey across China but also portrays their ordeals from opposing vantage points; both as man and woman and experience versus inexperience.

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In 2006 an unforeseeable sequence of events led a commercial model from Devon to forsake her makeup, acrylic nails and high heels to join her partner Tarka on an epic 4500km, 6 month journey, along the Great Wall of China. Tarka L’Herpiniere (26), already an experienced expeditionist with Polar and Everest Expeditions under his belt, had spent the previous year training for and completing his latest World First. This time however, he had his partner Katie-Jane Cooper to contend with. With no previous experience Katie-Jane (28), who had been working as a commercial model, undertook a staggering lifestyle transformation; leaving behind her old ways and swapping her high heels for walking boots.

Last year they became the FIRST people to trek continually along the entire length of the Great Wall, from its most Westerly point to its most Easterly. The pair trekked over 107 consecutive marathons, over terrains ranging from the barren planes of the Gobi Desert to towering snow capped mountain passes, carrying a third of their body weight on their backs! How did Katie-Jane achieve the colossal change from working as a commercial model in a world of diets and vanity, to hardened adventurer: surviving blizzards, temperatures of -35°C, frost bite, starvation, exhaustion and dehydration?

The talk is incredibly flexible and with years of experience speaking they are able to encompass a huge variety of underlying themes and topics, to include overcoming adversity, inspirational, motivation, and teamwork. However, the most common essence of the talk, is that no matter how impossible the task ahead seems especially when others doubt your ability, with a little self belief, perseverance, teamwork, planning, preparation and if you are bold enough to begin, then ordinary people can achieve extra-ordinary accomplishments. All of this is portrayed through an interactive, informative and enthusiastic multimedia presentation

Talk Extracts

“Failure isn’t being knocked down… It’s refusing to get back up! When Katie almost left her life in the desert 9 days into the journey it would have been so easy to call it a day, to have said she had given it a good go and gone home. In fact that wasn’t just a passing thought it was considered at length. But in the end she didn’t, she chose to face everything she feared the most and to go back to that same desolate spot in the desert she had been evacuated from a few days earlier to finish what she started.” Tarka

“When Tarka asked me to join him on his next expedition, having only met 3 days previously, I was flabbergasted. I believed that people who do such feats are simply built differently, both physically and mentally, to the average everyday girl. How could I, that everyday girl, possibly achieve such an undertaking. My family and friends would laugh at the thought, I was filled with self doubt, and yet a near stranger saw something in me and believed I could do it” Katie-Jane.

Speech Themes

• Teamwork: There is no successful journey in history that didn’t involve teamwork! It took the strengths of 150,000 people to put one on the moon.

• Motivation: Whether you are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, this is the wind in your sails. Without it you can have the best intentions in the world, but you’re dead in the water.

• Inspiration: Life is a journey, not a destination! However by being able to focus on a destination, brings the journey into perspective.

• Achieving potential: How far can you go? How far would you go? Potential is directly proportional to how big you can dream and how hard you are willing to work to achieve that dream.

• Thinking outside the box: As a species we have the most advanced communication skills of any on the planet. How would you describe a colour to someone who has been blind since birth?

• Other areas - overcoming adversity, dealing with change, failure, making goals achievable and ‘just do it’.

You can either watch a short video of Tarka and Katie-Jane speaking on the website or alternatively if you would like to receive a DVD copy please contact Primal Journey directly.

To book speaking engagements, it would be appreciated, for reasons of best working practice, if clients who have been introduced to Tarka and Katie-Jane through an agency or speaking bureau continue to book through that channel. If this is not the case then please contact Primal Journey’s speaking representative Caroline Rose.