Adventure athlete Becky Gilmour is using creativity and movement to change lives

“I ABSOLUTELY love any form of creativity and expression, whether through movement, art or music, and sharing that joy with others,” explains Becky Gilmour.

Last year, the Limerick-born adventure athlete became the first person to skateboard the Wild Atlantic Way, raising money and awareness for suicide and suicide loss.

Ever since, her work has revolved around sharing this message of hope and pursuing outdoor challenges to help raise funds for important causes.

Next month, Becky will be participating in a new street art festival called RePlay, where she will be one of three festival ambassadors present on the day, alongside Phili Halton and Finn Dempsey.

This week, The Echo sat down with Becky to discuss RePlay, which takes place in Parthalan Place in Tallaght on August 15 from 10am to 6pm.

This new festival is funded by SDCC and produced by SoFFt Productions and NOISE Music.

For more details, visit sdcc.

What would you consider to be the main inspiration behind your work and why?

I began skateboarding the Wild Atlantic Way last year to process the grief of losing a close friend to suicide.

Over the years, I’ve struggled a lot with my mental health, and what has always helped pull me from that is movement and getting outside.

My friend and I used to skateboard a lot by the sea where we lived, and so, skateboarding the west coast of Ireland made the most sense to me.

Being such a monumental challenge, I decided to share it online in hopes that I could make a little bit of a difference by showing others the journey that I was on.

Talking about mental illness and my struggles with it has become a huge driving factor for my work.

Not only does a strong goal and challenge where I’m moving every day help me a lot as it is, but having a deep underlying reason behind it that also helps others gives me a strong sense of purpose.

Ultimately, my main goal behind every challenge isn’t the physical mission itself.

It’s raising awareness, sparking a conversation, and in turn, hopefully sharing a little hope with those who are in a difficult place.

What would usually be considered to be among the highlights of your adventures, and why do you think that is?

In the last year I completed that skate, SUP paddled almost 1000km through Ireland, and ran 100km around Dublin Spire in 24 hours.

Each challenge has certainly raised a few eyebrows!

But I’d say the most significant was definitely the Wild Atlantic Way and, more specifically, the incredible kindness and community I witnessed along the way.

I always felt quite alone when navigating that grief, but doing that challenge provided a space not only for me to heal but also for other people to talk about their own experiences and become part of that journey.

It blew me away to recognise how much other people cared and got behind it.

So many people really went out of their way to get involved just to be kind, and it was a really beautiful thing to see and share.

What would usually be some of the biggest challenges you would encounter, and how do you navigate these challenges?

Apart from the warmth of Irish strangers who took me in from time to time, these trips have been unsupported, which means managing all my own gear, food, route, resupply, video, social media and PR. It’s been tough!

I’d say the hardest part comes when the weather is a little heavy: when gear gets wet (which is a common experience in Ireland!), things can feel pretty rough.

What always got me through was the reminder that everything is temporary: soon enough, no matter how miserable it felt in the moment, I knew I’d find myself in warm and dry clothes with a roof over my head and I’d have no regrets.

I also think holding onto your ‘why’, your reason to keep going each day, keeps me grounded.

Both of these lessons have definitely manifested themselves in other areas of my life too: whether mental health challenges, life situations or challenging circumstances, everything is temporary, and it’s worth pushing through for everything that’s to come.

What can you tell us about the RePlay festival? How did you come to be involved in it?

The RePlay festival is a street art festival celebrating just that: graffiti artists, skaters, BMX riders, writers, you name it.

These subcultures and arts are incredible to be involved in and to see supported.

They are often comprised of unique and expressive individuals that add a lot of vibrancy to our communities, and it’s brilliant to see these folks being given space and appreciation for what they do.

Phili Halton, from Goblin Skate, reached out to me on the Wild Atlantic way to feature me in the mag and has been a consistent support and friendly face through my time back in Ireland.

He makes incredible waves in the skate community and is quite an impressive individual – and he kindly connected me with the folks from RePlay.

It was awesome to connect and to hear about what’s going on in Tallaght, so I was really looking forward to coming on board!

What processes have been involved in preparing for this festival so far?

For me, I’ve been part of a photoshoot and responding to some lovely interviews like you while spreading the word online.

I’ve watched the RePlay folks do pop-up events as well in different areas in Dublin, with free workshops, continuing to make skateboarding accessible and sharing the experience.

It’s really cool to see kids being encouraged to get outside, try something new and step out of their comfort zones.

I think what RePlay are doing is really awesome, and actively encouraging the younger generation and providing them with space and resources is really cool to see.

Do you have any other plans for the rest of 2026 after this festival is over?

After the festival I’ll continue training for future adventures, as well as attending a few different events around the country to speak.

It’s been awesome to connect with different communities and organisations in Ireland through the year.

I’m also currently gearing up for an expedition in east Africa in 2027 – I’m currently in the process of getting a team together for this and will be announcing it very soon!

Who would you like to thank for helping you in this street art venture?

I’d love to thank the skate community as a whole and the team at RePlay for having me at this event.

The skate community and the warm Irish hospitality I’ve encountered along the way had me falling in love with Ireland all over again.

It’s spurred me to continue to do what I love, and it’s been really special to do that with such an epic community.

RePlay are also doing some incredible work, so it’s a real honour to be invited to be part of it.