Endurance Gap with Dani Aravich and Zachary Friedley – Details, episodes & analysis

In a world where endurance sport is celebrated daily, the stories of para athletes, their mastery, their strategy, and their relentless pursuit of possibility, have lived too long in the shadows.

This world is extraordinary, but it's also misunderstood. The stories are powerful, but the systems behind them are complex. And for too long, the athletes driving the sport forward haven't had a place to share the full story.

This podcast changes that. Welcome to Endurance Gap with Zachary Friedley and Dani Aravich.

Zachary is a trail runner, adaptive athlete, and the founder of Born to Adapt, a movement built around community, visibility, and creating spaces where para athletes can show up fully. Dani is a Paralympian and multi-sport athlete who has competed in both summer and winter sports.

They're not just your hosts. They're insiders who have lived the complexity, the beauty, the humor, the frustration, and the evolution of para endurance sport from every angle.

Born to Adapt exists because the para endurance community deserves a platform that matches the depth of the athletes within it.

Each episode gives you direct access to the athletes, decisions, challenges, and breakthroughs shaping para endurance today. If you want the full picture of this sport, told by the people living it, you're in the right place.

Find more from us: 

Born to Adapt: https://www.borntoadapt.org/

Dani on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theonearmdan/

Zachary on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trailblader/

There is a difference between getting into a race and showing up to a race that already has you in mind. For para athletes, that difference can decide whether race week is spent preparing to compete or explaining why they belong there in the first place.

In this episode of The Endurance Gap, Dani Aravich and Zachary Friedley break down the 2026 para trail and road scene, including the UTMB Para Trail Summit, Mammoth Trailfest's para podium prize purse, Boston Marathon's para categories, and the race systems that are starting to move beyond basic access. The conversation shows what happens when races do not stop at allowing para athletes into the field, but actually build programming, support, recognition, and competitive opportunities around them.

What's Discussed:
(23:39) How UTMB North America created para-focused programming through the UTMB Para Trail Summit.
(25:05) Why clinics, podium recognition, adaptive athlete policies, and trail opportunities matter for para athletes.
(27:08) How Born to Adapt is planning support for athletes pursuing the 2027 UTMB finals.
(27:38) Why Mammoth Trailfest adding a para podium prize purse is a major moment for para trail racing.
(31:55) What the Boston Marathon shows about para categories, podiums, prize purses, and elite road racing.
(34:14) Why Dani is training for Grandma's Marathon with Boston 2027 in mind.

If you are deciding where to race next, this episode can help you think about what kind of race deserves your energy. It can help you notice which events are building real systems for para athletes and which ones are still only offering permission without support. 

More from Dani Aravich:

Website: daniaravich.com/

Instagram: @theonearmdan

Threads: @theonearmdan

More from Zachary Friedley:

Website: borntoadapt.org/

Instagram: @trailblader

Threads:  @trailblader

The Paralympics can look like the finish line from the outside. But for athletes, the end of the Games can feel a lot more complicated. After four years of training, sacrifice, pressure, sickness, travel, and emotional build-up, the moment can pass quickly and leave athletes trying to process pride, disappointment, exhaustion, unfinished business, and what comes next.

In this episode of The Endurance Gap, we talk through Dani's experience at her third Paralympics and what people rarely see after the Games are over. We get into the post-Games blues, what felt different as a veteran athlete, the race that felt closest to a breakthrough, why France could become a full-circle moment, and how Winter and Summer Paralympics feel completely different from inside the athlete's experience.

From competing while sick to missing a race-changing shot, from climate concerns threatening winter sport to the way para athletes are still too often framed through overcoming adversity instead of elite performance, this episode looks at why the Paralympic story cannot end at inspiration. It has to include the pressure, strategy, disappointment, media gaps, and performance realities that make para athletes elite competitors.

What's Discussed:

(00:00) How Dani is feeling two months after the Paralympics.

(01:05) Why the post-Games blues can hit athletes no matter how they performed.

(02:08) What felt different at Dani's third Paralympics compared to her first two.

(03:53) Why Dani is already thinking about another Paralympic cycle.

(04:24) Why France feels personal, meaningful, and possibly full circle.

(11:01) Why para cross-country and biathlon can feel like a full racing whirlwind.

(16:00) How poor snow conditions and climate change are threatening winter sport.

(18:42) Why para athletes still need better storytelling, commentary, and media coverage.

Listen to this episode of The Endurance Gap to understand what really happens after a Paralympic cycle ends, why the emotional crash after a major goal is not weakness, and how better storytelling can help para endurance athletes be seen for the elite competitors they are.

More from Dani Aravich:

Website: daniaravich.com/

Instagram: @theonearmdan

Threads: @theonearmdan

More from Zachary Friedley:

Website: borntoadapt.org/

Instagram: @trailblader

Threads:  @trailblader

Para endurance is happening at the highest levels of sport, yet much of it remains invisible. Elite athletes line up and race iconic events while recognition, infrastructure, and systems trail far behind.

In this episode of The Endurance Gap, we break down 10 things most people don't know about the para endurance community. We explore why para trail running still lacks official podiums, how elite athletes are forced to race on DIY or self-modified equipment, and what it really costs to compete without industry support.

From wheelchair marathons operating at Formula 1-level speeds to the "hidden labor" behind every start line, we reveal the gaps between elite performance and systemic recognition.

What's Discussed:

(00:30) Why para trail running still has no official podiums

(04:38) How elite para athletes race on DIY or self-modified equipment

(07:14) Classification systems and Paralympic eligibility cuts

(08:11) What it meant to see more than 60 para athletes on the UTMB start line

(15:01) The hidden labor behind racing as a para athlete

(17:58) Why brand investment and visibility lag behind para endurance performance

More from Dani Aravich:

Website: http://daniaravich.com

Instagram: @theonearmdan

Threads: @theonearmdan

More from Zachary Friedley:

Website: http://borntoadapt.org

Instagram: @trailblader

Threads:  @trailblader

Sport is treated as universal. But for many adaptive athletes, the gap starts long before the race itself. It starts with never being told that all sports, even those that require adaptation like running, are possible with gear and tech access.

In this first episode, we share our journey and how each of us found endurance sport through chance, not design. A blade that came by mistake. An invite that changed everything. Years of being outside the conversation, even as others talked about diversity. We finally reach start lines that were never built for us.

If you want a grounded view of what is actually happening behind the scenes of para sports and para endurance, this conversation will give you some perspective from people who live it everyday.

What's Discussed:

(01:03) How running was never presented as an option and what that silence costs

(02:18) Why getting a running blade still depends on chance, not access

(03:29) What it means to grow up without seeing other disabled athletes

(06:01) The moment trail running reopened sport, career, and identity

(11:04) Why disabled athletes are still missing from diversity conversations in endurance sport

(15:36) How one invitation can change an entire athletic trajectory

More from Dani Aravich:

Website: http://daniaravich.com

Instagram: @theonearmdan

Threads: @theonearmdan

More from Zachary Friedley:

Website: http://borntoadapt.org

Instagram: @trailblader

Threads:  @trailblader