Ben Clough on Winning APEX Forge

“You Have To Live It To Learn It” — Ben Clough on Winning APEX Forge, Royal Marines Mindset, and What Ultra Endurance Teaches You That Nothing Else Can

Ben Clough didn’t just finish APEX Forge 2026. He won it. But if you spend five minutes reading his answers below, you’ll quickly realise that the result was almost secondary.

Royal Marine Physical Training Instructor. Online coach. Founder of The Breakthrough Project run club in Plymouth. Ben is someone who has spent his career studying human performance — and then choosing, repeatedly, to go somewhere that strips all of that knowledge back and leaves him with nothing but himself.

We asked him nine questions. He didn’t give us a single rehearsed answer.

This is Ben Clough, unfiltered.

You crossed the finish line at Forge having won. What was the first thought that went through your head — and was it what you expected?

“I can’t believe you managed to pull that one back…” That was the first thought that ran through my head.

The final lap was a true battle of grit and determination. After the first descent, I honestly believed there was no way I’d catch Paul again. But on the final climb back towards the start/finish, I saw him slow to a walk, hands on hips. I just kept plugging away, moving with purpose, confidence, and complete belief in my own ability.

I didn’t realise just how much crossing that finish line would mean to me. Seeing my girlfriend and my best friend standing there, waiting for me, meant the world. The moment I crossed the line; I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. All the emotion, relief, and pride came flooding out.

You’re a Royal Marine, a PTI, a coach — you understand physical performance at a level most people never will. So why ultra endurance? What is it specifically about pushing yourself for hours on end that you can’t get anywhere else?

I’ve always been drawn to seeing what I’m truly capable of, both physically and mentally. As a Royal Marine, PTI, and coach, I understand the science behind performance, but ultra-endurance strips everything back. You can have the perfect training plan, the best nutrition, and all the knowledge in the world, but at some point, you’re left with just yourself and your mindset.

That’s what keeps bringing me back. Ultra-endurance exposes your weaknesses but also shows you strengths you never knew you had. It teaches patience, resilience, discipline, and the ability to stay present when every part of you wants to stop. Those lessons don’t just make you a better athlete — they make you a better coach, a better leader, and a better person.

There’s also something incredibly rewarding about spending hours moving through difficult terrain with a single goal: to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It’s simple, honest, and there’s nowhere to hide. That feeling of overcoming something you once thought was impossible is something I’ve never found anywhere else.

Walk me through your preparation for Forge specifically. What did the training actually look like in the weeks before — the sessions, volume, anything you did that you think made the difference?

The biggest focus of my training was variety. I made sure to expose my body to different training stimuli, from long, slow runs to build endurance, to strength and conditioning sessions that focused on running mechanics, alongside speed work to maintain leg turnover and efficiency.

Two weeks before APEX Forge, I ran a 2:41:34 marathon at the Cape Town Marathon. That training block put me in a great position and undoubtedly gave me the physical and mental resilience I needed for the final battle on the 24th lap.

There isn’t a secret formula. Success comes down to hard work and consistency. It’s about showing up, even on the days when you don’t feel like getting the miles in or completing the session. In those moments, you have to remind yourself of your why — because that’s what keeps you moving when motivation fades.

During the 24 hours, how did you manage the race? Pacing, nutrition, when you pushed and when you held back. What were the decisions that actually won it?

The key in races like this is conservation. They’re not won by being the first person to cross the line on every lap — they’re won through patience, discipline, and sticking to your own race plan. It’s about managing your effort so that, when it really matters, you still have something left to give.

When it comes to nutrition, all thoughts of eating ‘clean’ go out of the window. At that point, it’s all about getting calories and carbohydrates in, with enough protein to aid recovery. I look at my body like a Land Rover Defender — it’s a tough, reliable machine that will keep going over any terrain, but only if there’s fuel in the tank. The body is no different. If you don’t fuel the engine, eventually it will stop.

Going into the final lap, my original plan was to stay composed and watch what the other competitors did before making my move. But someone had planted the idea of absolutely sending it from the start of the lap and setting the tone. Looking back, it was exactly the mindset I needed. Rather than reacting to everyone else, I raced on my own terms, committed fully, and never looked back.

Take me to the moment it nearly came apart. Not the finish line — the moment inside those 24 hours where you had to make a genuine choice to keep going. What was happening, and what did you tell yourself?

People often assume there was a moment where I questioned whether I could finish, but the truth is there wasn’t. There were moments where I was hurting, where the legs were heavy, the climbs felt steeper, and the fatigue really started to bite — but there was never any doubt I was going to keep going.

I think that’s something that was decided long before race day. Every early morning, every hard training session, and every run when I didn’t feel like lacing up my shoes built that mindset. By the time I stood on the start line, quitting was never part of the plan.

Throughout the race, I kept reminding myself to stay in the present. Don’t think about the next ten laps — just focus on the one you’re in. Eat. Drink. Recover. Then go again. Breaking the race down into manageable pieces stopped it from becoming overwhelming.

The biggest battle wasn’t against the other competitors; it was against complacency. I knew that if I stayed patient, trusted my training, and executed my race plan, I’d give myself the best possible chance. There was never doubt — just a constant commitment to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

You say comfort is the enemy of progress. But most people reading this are genuinely terrified of discomfort. Where does that fear come from — and how do you personally switch it off?

I think the fear of discomfort comes from the world we live in. Everything is designed to make life easier, faster, and more convenient. We’ve become conditioned to avoid anything that feels difficult, whether that’s physical pain, failure, or simply being uncomfortable. The problem is that growth has never lived in comfort.

I don’t try to switch that fear off — because I don’t think you can. Fear is a natural human emotion. What I’ve learned is to accept it and move anyway. Courage isn’t the absence of fear — it’s acting despite it.

For me, discomfort is where I learn the most about myself. Every time I choose the harder option, whether that’s an early morning run, a brutal training session, or pushing through the low points of an ultra, I’m reinforcing the belief that I’m capable of more than I think.

The biggest shift comes when you stop seeing discomfort as something to avoid and start seeing it as evidence that you’re growing. That’s where confidence is built — not from things being easy, but from repeatedly proving to yourself that you can do hard things.

Comfort will make you feel good today. Discomfort, embraced consistently, will change who you become.

Alongside being a Royal Marine, you’re a coach. What’s the single biggest mistake you see people make when preparing for an ultra?

There’s a common misunderstanding in endurance training that “slow miles” alone are enough to prepare you for an ultra — but in reality, variety is what makes the system resilient.

Yes, a large portion of ultra training should be low intensity — that’s where you build your aerobic base, improve fat utilisation, and accumulate volume without breaking the body down. But if all you ever do is run slow, you end up with a strong engine that lacks gears. It moves, but it doesn’t adapt.

Variety is what teaches the body to handle change. Long slow runs build durability. Tempo work teaches you how to operate under sustained discomfort. Speed work maintains efficiency and running economy so that, when fatigue inevitably sets in, your mechanics don’t completely fall apart. Strength and conditioning then tie it all together by improving robustness, stride mechanics, and injury resilience.

You founded a run club to help people start. What do you say to someone who genuinely believes running isn’t for them?

A run club changes the experience completely. On your own, running can feel like a test. In a group, it becomes something shared. There’s less pressure to perform and more focus on simply being there together. You start to realise that consistency is easier when you’re not doing it in isolation.

The social side is what keeps people coming back. It’s conversations mid-run, the familiar faces on a cold morning, the encouragement when someone is struggling, and the shared satisfaction of finishing something together. That environment quietly builds confidence in people who didn’t think they belonged in running at all.

At The Breakthrough Project — my run club — we pride ourselves on being the friendliest and most inclusive run club in Plymouth. There are no egos, just a safe community where people can start their fitness journey or simply come to socialise and connect with like-minded individuals.

What’s the one thing you know about endurance and resilience that most people will never learn — because they never push hard enough to find it?

You have to experience it to truly understand it. There are no shortcuts or secrets. The suffering and discomfort have to be felt first-hand. That’s where the learning actually happens. The athletes who improve the most aren’t the ones who get everything right. They’re the ones who are willing to get it wrong, repeatedly, and still show up again with the intent to get better. Progress in endurance sport isn’t linear. It’s built through exposure, experience, and resilience developed over time. You have to live it to learn it.

Ben Clough is the APEX Forge 2026 Champion and an APEX Ambassador. You can follow his journey on Instagram at @thelifeofbennybreem and find out more about The Breakthrough Project run club in Plymouth.