3x world record speed holder; Explorers Grand Slam (Last Degree), Three Poles Challenge, 50 Highest Points
Updated on April 23, 2016
Colin Timothy O'Brady (born March 16, 1985) is an American professional endurance athlete, motivational speaker and adventurer. He is a former professional triathlete, representing the United States on the ITU Triathlon World Cup circuit, racing in 25 countries on six continents from 2009 to 2015.[1][2]
O'Brady is a four-time world record holder. In 2016 he set the Explorers Grand Slam (Last Degree) and Seven Summits speed records, the latter of which has since been broken.[3][4][5][6][7][8] He became the fastest person to complete the adventurers challenges in 139 days and 131 days, respectively. In the summer of 2018, O'Brady set the speed record for the 50 US High Points in 21 days.
On December 26, 2018, he completed a solo crossing of the land mass of Antarctica, excluding the ice shelves, using the South Pole Traverse (SPoT) vehicle road during the last 366 miles (589 km) of the journey.[9]
O'Brady was a youth soccer star and Oregon State Swimming Champion.[12] He was recruited for both collegiate swimming and soccer in high school. He accepted a recruitment to swim for the Yale Bulldogs swimming and diving team where he competed on the NCAA Division I varsity team in the 100 and 200 meter Breaststroke.[13] He graduated from Yale University in 2006 and received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.[12]
In 2007, O'Brady began what was planned as a year-long backpacking trip around the world. In January 2008, on the island of Koh Tao, he suffered a devastating burn injury. Though he was warned he might never again walk normally, he took his first step the following month and was determined to make a full recovery.[14][15][16]
Career
Early career and professional triathlete
O'Brady moved to Chicago, where he took a job as a commodities trader following the accident. He learned how to walk again, and for a year focused on physical rehabilitation. He began to train for triathlon: swimming, cycling, and running.[17]
In May 2009 he won a sprint-distance triathlon in Racine, Wisconsin, and in August 2009 he placed 1st overall amateur in the Olympic-distance Chicago Triathlon.[18] He then placed in the age-group nationals in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which earned him a position on Team USA at the 2010 World Triathlon Championships in Budapest, Hungary. In late 2009, encouraged by his mentor, financier Brian Gelber, O'Brady quit his job to pursue a career as a professional athlete. With Gelber as a sponsor, he moved to Australia to train in a more temperate climate. O'Brady has since completed more than 50 triathlons, ranging from sprint distance to Ironman competitions.[15][19]
O'Brady completed Ironman Japan in August 2015, his final triathlon race and placed 6th in the Pro division.[20]
Endurance and adventurer
Following his retirement from triathlon, O'Brady and his then-fiancée Jenna Besaw created Beyond 7/2, a not-for-profit world record journey to inspire kids and communities to live active, healthy lives.[2] O'Brady aimed to conquer the Explorers Grand Slam (Last Degree), an adventurer's challenge to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents and complete expeditions to both the North and South Poles in world record time. O'Brady and Besaw financed the Grand Slam attempt through sponsorships from Gelber Group, Nike, Columbia Sportswear, and Mountain Hardwear, among others.[2] The project raised funds and awareness to benefit the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a non-profit organization that aims to combat childhood obesity.[21]
O'Brady left Portland on December 25, 2015, flying to Chile and then Union Glacier in Antarctica. In January 2016, O'Brady began the Explorers Grand Slam.[citation needed] O'Brady was joined on parts of his Beyond 7/2 journey by various climbing partners and as a paying client with guides including polar explorer Eric Larsen, Vern Tejas and fellow mountaineer Maria (Masha) Gordon.[citation needed]
O'Brady became the fastest person (male) to complete the Explorers Grand Slam (Last Degree) when he reached the summit of Denali in Alaska on May 27, 2016, and set a new speed record of 139 days.[22] He bested the previous male record of 197 days set by Richard Parks in 2011. O'Brady is the 36th person to complete the Explorers Grand Slam (Last Degree) and the current record holder. O'Brady completed 10 expeditions in total to fulfill both the Bass and Messner lists.[citation needed]
O'Brady is the fastest[3][5] to complete the Three Poles Challenge, an adventurer’s challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole and the summit of Mount Everest. He began the challenge in Antarctica on January 10, 2016, reached the North Pole on April 19, and summited Mount Everest on May 19, 2016.[24]
In the summer of 2018, aided by a small support team, O'Brady broke the speed record for the 50 US High Points Challenge when he climbed the highest point in each of the 50 states of the United States in just 21 days, 9 hours, and 48 minutes. While reaching each high point, he invited local residents of all ages and backgrounds to come out to join him in setting a new world record; this piece of the project was coined "The Forrest Gump Effect".[25][26][27][28]
On December 26, 2018, O’Brady completed a solo and unsupported crossing of parts of Antarctica from the Messner start to the beginning of the Ross Ice Shelf by following the South Pole Overland Traverse ice highway.[29][30] He completed the 932 mile journey in 54 days,[31] finishing ahead of explorer Louis Rudd who was also attempting the feat.[32] Peter Wilson has disputed this claim that the trek was unassisted due to the ice highway being groomed and maintained.[32][33]
In December 2019, O'Brady acted as the first mate in a six-man team on the first man-powered crossing of Drake Passage, the body of water between South America and Antarctica. It took 13 days and more than 700 miles (1,100km) in a boat that was 29 feet (8.8m) long.[34][35][36][37][38]
In June 2021, O'Brady summited Mount Everest alongside his wife, Jenna Besaw, completing her first summit of the mountain. [39]
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven.
The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise definition of the criteria used to assess independence, and at times, the UIAA has considered whether the list should be expanded to 20 mountain peaks by including the major satellite peaks of eight-thousanders. All of the eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in an altitude known as the death zone.
Khoo Swee Chiow is a Singaporean adventurer, author, consultant, and motivational speaker. Khoo is the first Southeast Asian and the fourth person in the world to complete The Explorers Grand Slam, that is, the North Pole, the South Pole, and the Seven Summits.
Park Young-seok was a South Korean mountaineer.
Børge Ousland is a Norwegian polar explorer. He was the first person to cross Antarctica solo.
Cecilie Skog is a Norwegian adventurer who trekked across Antarctica in 2010.
The Three Poles is an adventurer’s challenge to reach the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Mount Everest.
Maxime Chaya is a Lebanese mountaineer and explorer. On May 15, 2006, he was the first Lebanese to climb Mount Everest and the Seven Summits. On December 28, 2007, Max also became the first from the Middle East to reach the South Pole on foot from the Antarctic coast, after an unsupported and unassisted journey that lasted 47 days. Then, on April 25, 2009, he reached the North Pole also on foot, all the way from Canada.
The Explorer's Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to reach the North Pole and South Pole, as well as climb the Seven Summits.
Alison Levine is an American mountain climber, motivational speaker and leadership consultant. She is the author of On the Edge: The Art of High Impact Leadership and the executive producer of a documentary, The Glass Ceiling. She has ascended the highest peaks on every continent and also skied to both the North and South Poles. In 2010, she completed the Adventure Grand Slam by reaching the summit of Mount Everest.
Tashi and Nungshi Malik are the first siblings and twins to climb the Seven Summits and reach the North and South Poles and complete the Adventurers Grand Slam and Three Poles Challenge.
Mostafa Salameh, is a Jordanian - Palestinian mountaineer who has completed the Seven Summits, including Mount Everest in 2008.
Ryan Waters is an American mountaineer, mountaineering guide, and polar skiing guide.
Masha Gordon is a British businesswoman, explorer and mountain climber. Gordon spent 16 years working in finance and capital markets. She was managing director of Goldman Sachs and most recently led the emerging markets portfolio management team at PIMCO.
Satyarup Siddhanta is a Bangalore-based Indian mountaineer. Satyarup became the youngest mountaineer in the world and the first from India to climb both the Seven Summits and Volcanic Seven Summits on 15 January 2019 at 10:10 pm Chile time. Guinness World Records approved this claim.
Wang Jing is a Chinese climber, author, entrepreneur and member of The Explorers Club in the United States. Wang is best known for her feat in becoming the fastest woman in the world to complete the Explorers Grand Slam in 143 days and the fastest woman to climb Seven Summits with an assist from helicopters. The Explorers Grand Slam involves reaching the highest peak on every continent plus at a minimum of skiing the last degree (111 km) to the North and South poles. Wang recorded this adventure in her book Silence of the Summit, which was published in English in December 2018.
Neil Adrian Denis Laughton is a former army officer, entrepreneur and adventurer. He has completed the Explorers Grand Slam of climbing the highest mountains on all seven continents and reaching both the North and South Poles. He holds a number of records for his activities on land, sea and air.
Harshvardhan Joshi is an Indian mountaineer and sustainability advocate from Vasai, Maharashtra.
Andrew Towne is an American businessman, endurance athlete, adventurer, and motivational speaker. He is known for being part of the six-person rowing crew that completed the first-ever human-powered crossing of the Drake Passage between Cape Horn in South America and Antarctica in December 2019. He is currently a Principal for the Boston Consulting Group's Minneapolis office.
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