Rapha: Descent

Client: Rapha

Production Company: OBR Studios

Directed by: Steve Bliss / Rufus Exton

Editor: Tim Beeston

Following a near-fatal crash in 2021 that left her bed-bound and unable to walk, Ana Orenz could think of only one correct course of action - to return to the race that nearly killed her just one year on.

Pitched to Rapha on the terrace of Kendal Mountain Film Festival in 2021 by Rufus Exton and Steve Bliss, Descent tells the remarkable tale of a life lived in devotion of the bike, where passion becomes obsession and the tests of true strength go far beyond the physical - when the ultimate test of endurance exists inside the mind. A working, single mother and ultra-distance cyclist, Ana’s life is geared toward solitude but has been shaped by the presence of others.

From childhood disability to triple-everesting and then sustaining life-altering injuries, this is the journey of coming to terms with a body you no longer recognise and relearning what it is, and is not, capable of.

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