Outdoor Power
From trading chaos for calm, swapping booze for bait and late nights for brutal races, Bev Clifford is a force of nature who found power and purpose outdoors. Unstoppable and reshaping what strength looks like, she shares how nature became her greatest power move.
By Glorious
Photography By Heiko Prigge
Bev Clifford wasn’t the girl winning medals on sports day. If anything, she was the one ducking out of cross country and lighting up behind the hedges. “I was the person at the back,” she laughs, “hiding in the bushes smoking a cigarette!” But even then, there was something outdoorsy about her. She had horses, loved Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, and would pick potholing over netball any day. These days, she’s still in East Yorkshire, the same landscape she grew up in, only now she’s more likely to be found running through it with her nine-year-old rescued Siberian husky or sitting still beside a lake, behind her fishing rods with the kind of quiet focus that makes time fold in on itself.
“You could say I was born into angling!” Bev laughs “My dad had fished since he was young, we had ponds in the garden and the house had hundreds of angling books, magazines and stuffed fish around.” The family business revolved around fishing too; her father published books and magazines on the subject, so it was almost inevitable she would spend school holidays in the office and the scent of bait and carp was a homely scent. “From leaving school I worked in the business, even during college and university.” For a long time, though, that world felt like something that belonged to her dad, not her. It wasn’t until her mid-twenties that she actually picked up a rod and decided to make fishing hers.
It was a choice made in response to upheaval and the need for change. “Prior to fishing and running, my spare time was mostly living the party lifestyle. When I knew I needed to give it up and have some hobbies, fishing was an obvious choice as I was surrounded by it and running seemed a good challenge and another way of keeping fit alongside the gym.” There is no glamorising of this period, for Bev, fishing was a lifeline. “To be able to leave the party lifestyle behind and get over my problems with drink and drugs, I needed something to be able to focus on, and that took me away from that lifestyle. Fishing gave me that.” Instead of filling weekends with old habits, she could pour her energy into something that was demanding, absorbing and, in a very literal sense, took her out of her old life and placed her by the calm of the water which helped, but so did the community. Carp fishing wasn’t full of women at the time, but the ones who were there made space for her. It became her thing.
That’s exactly why we asked Bev to be part of our Power campaign shoot in collaboration with Sweaty Betty. The brand came to Glorious wanting more than just a way to spotlight their bestselling Power collection – they wanted to feature women who genuinely reflect the strength behind the pieces. So we created a campaign centred on our own community, and Bev was an obvious choice. Her story doesn’t sit apart from her day-to-day life. It’s there in how she talks, what she cares about, and the way she brings other women with her.
That came through from the start- Bev doesn’t posture or try to dominate a room, she’s steady, soft, thoughtful and completely herself. You can feel it in the way she shows up, and hear it in how she talks about the things that matter to her.
You can see it, too, in what she’s built. “I’ve always been a planner!” Bev laughs, and fishing gave her plenty to get stuck into. Strategy, gear, locations, conditions. Planning mattered, especially in competitions. She explains how the detail appealed to her, and how it shaped her approach to everything else. “Fishing certainly demands patience,” she says. “And it’s definitely helped me hone that skill!” The more time she spent outside, the more she realised how essential that environment had become to her wellbeing. “I think the more time we spend in nature, the more we understand it, respect it, and crave more time in it.” Fishing, she says, helped her reconnect with something she had lost touch with during her teenage years. It gave her a sense of perspective.
do it!
As her confidence grew, so did her vision. Bev didn’t just want to catch fish, she wanted to create a space where more women could experience the same transformation. That’s how the Ladies Carp Academy was born, and how she went on to help form Ladies Carp Team England. “Being part of creating Ladies Carp Team England was the catalyst to other countries forming their national teams,” she says. “Eventually the sport was big enough and met all the criteria for us to host the first ever Women’s Carp Fishing World Championships.” Bev co-organised and hosted the even,t and managed the England team. The scale of it hit her at the time, but it means even more now. “Representing your country in a sport that you love is very special,” she says. “But knowing that you were part of making a change so that could be possible for so many women in the future is even more special.”
Messages began to come in from women who had tried fishing for the first time, and from others who said they had always wanted to try but didn’t think it was for them. Some had grown up being told it was a ‘man’s sport’, others had simply never seen a woman doing it until they saw Bev. “Over the years so many of the wonderful ladies I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and helping have said some really warming, poignant and kind things,” she says. “One that’s come up a few times is ladies thanking me for helping them get over their fears and be confident to do things that they wouldn’t have done before. I don’t think there are many things you can hear that are as motivating as that.”
The satisfaction Bev found through angling, both the challenge and the community, soon led her to seek similar rewards elsewhere. It was not long before she discovered another pursuit that would push her even further, mentally and physically: running. She had started going to the gym but was looking for something more. “Running seemed a good challenge,” she laughs “and another way of keeping fit alongside the gym.” What began as a before-work hobby quickly turned into something bigger. The distances got longer, and her sense of what was possible began to shift. “There’s something magical about being hundreds of miles into a race and your body still being able to run,” she says. “You realise how amazing the human body is and what strength we truly have in body and mind.”
Before our shoot, Bev casually mentioned she’d be out of contact for a few days. “I’m running the Montane Spine Race,” she wrote. “I’ll try to keep up with my emails, but I doubt I’ll have signal.” We Googled it. The Montane Spine Race is one of the most brutal endurance challenges in the world. The route spans 268 miles along the Pennine Way, crossing rugged, remote terrain. It took Bev five and a half days to complete. Her feet were battered, her body exhausted, but she didn’t stop. “There were many things that helped me push through,” she says. “But one thing I kept repeating to myself was that I was doing this for all the women out there who don’t believe in themselves or have been told that they can’t do something. Proving that women are incredibly strong and we can do anything we want to if we believe we can.”
Those are the moments she remembers most. Not for the scale of the achievement, but for what they say to other people. “I probably feel my strongest when somebody tells me I’ve inspired them to do something they thought they couldn’t do or were scared to do,” she says. “The best feeling is doing things that you once thought you couldn’t do. It’s a natural high.”
Bev finds inspiration in other women too. She lights up when talking about what she’d love to try next. “Oh wow, probably true mountaineering,” she says. “I love watching documentaries about people climbing the highest and most dangerous mountains in the world.” The people who keep her going are women who have pushed boundaries. Nikki Spinks, the fell runner who has survived breast cancer twice and still holds records in her late fifties. Sally Gunnell, who she remembers watching as a kid with her family, always on the telly during athletics season. Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Everest and conquer the Seven Summits. And Katie Taylor, who she says has transformed visibility and respect for women in boxing. These women are proof, Bev says, that power doesn’t come from being given permission. It comes from turning up anyway.
That feeling of being fully in the moment is something she returns to often. “It’s that feeling of where nothing else matters,” she says. “All the worries, the self-doubt, the stresses of life, the feeling of not fitting in, the work worries, the endless list of chores and things to do that are running through your mind. They’re all gone, and you’re just there, in the great outdoors, feeling free and content.”
perspective
It doesn’t have to be a 200-mile race. It doesn’t even have to be fishing. “Regardless of what sport you’re doing, just being outside gives you a sense of calm and clarity,” she says. “In green spaces or near water, it’s calming and good for the mind and body.” She wants more women to experience that. And if fishing might be the thing that opens the door, she knows exactly where to start. “DO IT!” she laughs. “Get on the Angling Trust website, look at the Get Into Fishing events and find one near you. And if you’ve got kids, take them along too. It’s fantastic for all the family to get involved in and enjoy.”
If Bev’s journey proves anything, it is that the real prize lies in showing up for yourself. That’s the kind of power Bev carries. Not loud, not flashy, but fully lived. You don’t need to be first, or fast, or fearless. You just need to start.
Find out more about Sweaty Betty’s POWER collection here.
Outfit 1: (All black outfit)
Power Gym Leggings, Black, Zero Gravity Running Bra, Black
Outfit 2: (Tank and shorts)
Power 9″ Cycling Shorts, Blue Ebony Print, Breathe Easy Mesh Run Vest Top, Stamina Seamless Sports Bra
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