Iris Pessey

Name: Iris Pessey (aka Pesseytte)
SCOTT Athlete since: 2018
D.O.B: 05.06.1992
Nationality: French
Hometown: In my suitcase most of the time, in Le Grand-Bornand, France when I need to collect the mail every now and then.

Biography: 
I grew up in the French alps doing a lot of random sports with my twin brother. I then became very serious about Biathlon and got into a sports school at 14. I was obsessed with being the best athlete possible at skiing but really sucked at shooting so I didn’t make it very far in the end. At 23 I moved to the USA to study with an athletic scholarship for skiing and today, 8 years later, I still never fully came back and live mainly on the road. I spent a few years working for Australia as a ski coach and now in the winter I am a biathlon coach for Great-Britain and live with my athletes (Basically I’m like a full time mom of 10 teenagers). The rest of the time I’m travelling to races, coaching again (but less than in the winter), or travelling to some random locations looking for places to surf, ski, run or do paragliding. As much as I love exploring I slowly start to want to settle down to something more steady, especially because I start feeling very bad about my carbon footprint (better late than never I guess. I try to reduce it as much as I can by being vegetarian, picking up trash from other people when I go running…etc, but I also realise I take the plane way too often). And I always like going back to my home mountains. I like every outdoor sports you can think of as long as it’s not something that requires too much coordination like tennis or soccer. I’m really goofy, but I can manage running with (almost) not falling over too often. People often see me as the giggly girl who doesn’t care about much, the truth is, I do, I just don’t show it but I take my training and my relationship to my loved ones very seriously (and a few other things, like trying to pay my taxes on time, things like this …Which reminds me I need to be an adult sometimes even though I’d like to stay a kid forever). As a coach I try a lot of things on myself before having my guys do it and I always think about performance and how to become a better athlete and a better person but I also try to remind myself that doing the hard work is much easier with a smile on my face and joking around.

Athlete talk

3 facts we don’t know about: 
1-When I was a teenager I was so obsessed with training to be a biathlete that my mom was worried I was missing out on all the normal teenager shenanigans and regret it later on so I would have a middle life crisis. She  was asking my friends to take me out to the bars. I wasn’t allowed to go home until 1AM and had to drink at least three beers. 
2-I never wanted to become a serious runner initially, I did it almost by accident. By the time I started running for Scott I had given up on the idea of competing in sports seriously. But absolutely don’t regret it and have loved the journey I’ve been on ever since. I guess things happen for a reason, and never when you expect it. 
3-When I can’t make life decisions I have a pendulum that I use to decide what is best  for me (No I’m not a witch, yes I 100% believe in it, and yes you may think I’m crazy)

Favourite race: Zermatt Utraks to name only one. 100% the most epic course I have ever seen, we need more of that in the Skyrunning world. I like how the organisers aren’t looking to have something accessible for as many as possible, but just traight up badass and if people can’t handle it,it’s not their problem.
Favourite SCOTT product:  Supertrack Rc shoes.
A quote you live by: ‘’No risk, no fun.’’ Risk to me defines the extreme aspect of sports I enjoy like the sketchy parts of a skyrace, but also risk in the sense daring being balsy, daring making the decisions that will take you out of your confort zone, not being afraid to expose yoursef to failure, risking to be seen as weird or different to stick to your values and who you are…etc. 
Motivational song: DILLIGAF (and it means : Do I Look Like I Give a Fuck), check it out on Youtube.