The ultra life
Photo credit: Sam Hill & ITRA Trail Running
Vermont-born 23-year-old ultrarunner, skyrunner, yoga teacher and mental health clinician Naïa Tower may be young, but she has already lived an eventful, varied, and accomplished life.
Growing up outside of formal education, she spent her childhood travelling the world while being homeschooled in maths and science, and says she learned as much about the world from her books and everyday life as she did from her lessons.
“I travelled around the US and Europe with my mum, two brothers and my sister, and that’s how we grew up: going to museums, attending different events, and meeting people. That was our school,” she said.
“We read lots of books but on our own time. We got to choose what we wanted to do.”
Naïa graduated high school at 16 and, despite her unorthodox upbringing, attained her Bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures and then her Master’s of Psychology with the University of Wolverhampton in 2025. By taking both courses online, she could continue travelling during her studies.
Her higher education gained her a position as a school-based clinician back in Vermont, during which she helped almost 30 young clients, aged 7 to 14 years old, who were either excluded from public school or at risk of being so. Through a combination of twice-weekly meetings with them, their parents, and her colleagues, she helped address the children’s barriers to learning.
Naïa recently became a mental health clinician and would like to study an associated PhD programme, but her primary career is just one of the ways in which she helps people: as a passionate advocate for physical health as well as mental health, since 2019 she has been coaching skyrunners.
“I’ve always loved running and I got into skyrunning when I was 14,” Naïa said. “It’s basically running straight up a mountain, above a certain elevation point. Adjusting to the altitude and running up a very steep course is physically demanding, and quite the mental challenge. It burns your legs and boggles your mind.
“As a teen I started travelling to Italy for a skyrunning race every year, and by the time I was 19, the coach of the US team was my best friend. I was like, hey, I’m Canadian, but there’s no Canadian team! I want to create one.”
As a dual citizen of the US and Canada, Naïa began coaching Canadian athletes after founding the company Canada Youth Skyrunning Team, and brought them to Montenegro and Italy twice to compete in the Skyrunning Youth World Championships for three years in a row.
2026 will be the first year since creating the team when she will not be coaching, as she plans to focus on her own career and athletic goals – namely, ultrarunning, which is a footrace that extends beyond a marathon distance of 26.2 miles (42.2km).
“I feel most happy and fulfilled when I’m helping people.”
“My favourite distance is between 50km and 100km, so that will be my focus,” she said. “There’s no sleeping. There are breaks and aid stations where you can refuel with food and water, but it’s continuous. It can take up to 24 hours, depending on the person. For my training, it will be lots of long runs in the mountains, and just hours spent on my feet getting used to being uncomfortable.”
Naïa thinks that her dedication to yoga, for which she is a qualified teacher, is the reason she has remained injury-free despite the intense trials she has put her body through. Among her running achievements, she has come 1st in Age Group for the Transvulcania Half-Marathon in La Palma, 1st in Age Group for XTERRA 21km, raced the Pisgah Mountain 50km trail race, and completed the Tour du Mont Blanc 180km.
Despite these incredible accomplishments, Naïa maintains that she finds the most satisfaction and pleasure in helping others rather than herself.
She said: “Throughout my travels I realised something: I can see so many cool countries and places and meet so many people and do so many great things, but I feel most happy and fulfilled when I’m helping people.
“That’s why I’m going back to Vermont for now, where I’ve gotten a job as a mental health clinician at a cool place – thanks to the University of Wolverhampton and my Master’s degree.”
