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She’s a retired sports star, broadcaster, lifestyle guru and mum to two-year-old son Ronan, with another baby on the way in the New Year , but the sky is still the limit for Ireland’s Fittest Family coach Anna Geary. After over a decade on our screens following her retirement from the Cork camogie team in 2015, Anna is a very well-known face – and voice – but that doesn’t mean the 38-year-old is about to rest on her laurels! As Ireland’s Fittest Family is back on our screens , Anna says she is probably even more competitive now, 10 years on from her first season on the show, than ever before – especially as there is a new line-up of rival coaches. This season Paralympic swimming champion Ellen Keane, former Dublin star and All-Ireland winner Michael Darragh MacAuley and Irish rugby legend Andrew Trimble have joined the line-up, taking on original coaches Anna, Donncha O’Callaghan and reigning champ Davy Fitzgerald. “The competitor in me definitely goes into overderive for sure because I think you’re like, ‘I wonder what these people are going to be like’ or ‘how competitive are they going to be’, ‘what’s their coaching style going to be’, ‘can I get the better of them psychologically’,” Anna says. “When we found out there was going to be new coaches obviously there was shock because since the show’s existed – this is the 13th season – there’s only ever been four coaches. So obviously you’re changing the dynamic when new coaches come – and now there’s six, it completely changes the dynamic and it’s also now changing the format so what people would have seen previously in the first few episodes of Fittest Family is now not the case. “There’s new locations and they’ve changed up some of the challenges so they’re brand new. Normally as a coach who is returning you do have a slight advantage as you’ve seen these challenges before whereas, I said to Andrew Trimble and Michael Darragh one of the days, ‘oh yeh’ of course they had to make things even-keel for you’! “You always hope as a coach you have some sort of competitive advantage, even if it is only one per cent, but with new challenges everyone is on the same playing field.” Anna was only narrowly beaten out last year by renowned hurling coach Davy Fitzgerald so she has the bit between her teeth to go all the way this year, not least because health and fitness are a big part of her own life and something she feels passionately about. “I’ve been part of this for over a decade now and it’s great to be part of a show that people absolutely adore,” Anna says. “I have had conversations with families who have said watching the Fittest Family has brought them closer together, that they do the challenges at home in their sitting rooms or in their gardens and they say, ‘oh wait until my son turns 14 we’re applying for the show’. “I’m really passionate about health and wellbeing and about it being a part of your normal, daily life as much as brushing your teeth or taking a shower and exercise being something that people don’t dread or see as a punishment. “And I think Fittest Family brings a fun element and people are doing things and challenging themselves and surprising themselves and because they’re doing it in a fun way it doesn’t feel like exercise and that’s what I love about it and what keeps me in the show.” Anna is also a familiar voice on radio, with her health and wellbeing show Supercharged on RTE Radio 1 at 6pm on Sunday nights. During the summer, Anna filled in for Miriam O’Callaghan in the prime time Sunday morning slot – and she says while she was nervous stepping into such big boots, it was an “real honour and privilege”. “I talk to younger people about nerves and tell them if you don’t have nerves, it’s actually not a good thing. It’s great to have them, to know that what is about to happen is a good thing,” she says. “So when we got the opportunity to fill in for Miriam – I am a massive fan of Miriam – so to be able to fill in for that show for two weeks, it was a real honour. It genuinely was, and a real privilege. “And I think for us to take Supercharged to that slot meant a brand new audience got to listen because often the people that are listening on a Sunday evening at six aren’t the people that are listening on a Sunday morning. “One of the things I am most proud of with Supercharged is it’s not your stereotypical health and wellbeing show where we’re just focusing on what the right foods to eat are and the exercise, these kind of things that people might think of if you asked them to write down what health means to them. “But we talk about loads of things like loneliness, chronic pain, panic attacks, sex - Supercharged covers loads of things which actually are health-related as well, like friendship, navigating adult friendships, that has a massive impact on our health. “So those topics, being able to bring them to a larger audience, a new audience, and to be able to do it knowing that this show was created to be a credible source of information for people, is one of those moments where you have to stop and go, ‘wow, this is really great’. “So to be doing this and doing it five or six years later is incredible." Away from work, Anna has been married to husband Kevin Sexton since 2019 and their son Ronan turned two last month. The couple are also expecting a new arrival in early 2026. “We’re delighted, of course,” Anna says of her second pregnancy. “I was very lucky with my pregnancy with Ronan in that I kind of coasted through it so I really developed a newfound respect and admiration for women who had really tough pregnancies from the point of view of being sick. “But I suppose, when you have a toddler who is very active and time-consuming, in the best way possible, you’re working and trying to keep life and relationships and social outings going, it has definitely been more challenging this time around. “I was talking to people recently actually and on social media, like ‘what’s more difficult, to go from zero to one child or one to two, and people had very different responses and opinions which is good for me, I suppose, to learn from people who have been there and done it. “I think sometimes you can read all the books in the world but nothing really prepares you more than hearing from other moms and parents that have done it so it’s been great to get that advice. “But this pregnancy, I’m in a really good place at the moment – I feel good, the energy is good. I’m back doing things I couldn’t do for the first few months.” Ronan turned two last month, and Anna says he’s really developing his own little personality now. She said: “He’s become more independent now. The other day he insisted on taking the yoghurt top off himself and I was just like, ‘this is going to be carnage’. “I admired his independence and wanting to do it himself but also it was this weird moment of sadness, or even heartbreak, because it was like, oh my god, he’s like out of the baby stage and you want it and you welcome it but parenting in general is the hardest job in the world because you’re trying to prepare them to need you less. “So there’s such mixed emotions around that because you almost want your baby to be a baby forever.” With a new baby on the way, 2026 is looking just as busy for Anna and while that is something she is incredibly grateful for and will never take for granted, she is hoping to take a chunk of time off as she embraces being a mother of two. “The first time round when I had Ronan I didn’t have a whole pile of time off because I was back to radio six weeks after – now obviously I wasn’t back to work full time – but I was back on radio so this time round it would be nice to have a little bit longer. “The nature of the world of media is that opportunities sometimes come up when you least expect them and then you just have to make a decision on whether or not it is something you want to do and I think that’s where I am at in that there’s so many things, so many avenues, so it’s not like I’m closed off in that I’m saying, nobody contact me for six months, but at the same time I am going to try and really soak this up. “When you’re a first time parent, you spend half of it living in terror and I didn’t have older brothers and sisters that had kids and you’re not trusting your own gut and judgement and you’re going in in the middle of the night and putting your ear close to their nose to make sure you hear them breathing. “You’re just living in this almost fight or flight for the first couple of months because it’s all so new. “So I’m hoping this time you trust yourself that little bit more, you’ve been there already, there’s not the same sense of panic. “But now, obviously, you’ll have two now so that brings up its own challenges but I would love to have that time off to really enjoy it because, with the nature of anything in life, no-one knows if you’ll get to experience this again and how life will change down the line so I am conscious that it is something we’re so delighted to be in a position to be having, a new baby in 2026, so I’m hoping it is something I will be able to enjoy. “But the nature of my job, if opportunities arise and there’s a chance to work a day or two here and there, I am not going to say no to that.” Ireland’s Fittest Family airs Sundays at 6.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Read the full interview with Anna in this month's issue of RSVP Magazine, on shelves nationwide now.
