David Kelly, MD, on the Adventure of a Lifetime: The Great World Race

Living a life in full is a conversation you always wanted to have with that person who gave an amazing TED Talk or the author of one of your favorite books, or that inspirational Olympian you always wanted to know more about. It's graduate level conversations with those making a difference in the world and in the lives of others. This show brings you new ideas and approaches so that you can live a life in full. I'm your host, Dr. Chris Stout and I hope you enjoy this episode. This episode is brought to you by the nonprofit I founded, the center for Global Initiatives. The center is an all volunteer organization so there are no salaries and thus all tax deductible donations can go to the work. While our key country partner is in Tanzania, our work is global and generally focused in the areas of education and healthcare. We also help others to get their nonprofits started or augment others project based initiatives. It's our goal to open source humanitarian intervention and to help make it easier for others to do more good in the world. We are proud to have been ranked a great nonprofit every year since 2011 and to have achieved a Platinum level rating by Guidestar Links. In this episode's show, notes will take you to published articles on our outcomes, a number of helpful tools, and downloadable resources which are all free always. Please Visit us at CenterForGlobalInitiatives.org and be sure to watch our video at Patreon.com DrChrisStout to learn more. Thanks. Welcome to another episode of Living a Life in Full. I'm your host, Dr. Chris Stout. I know that many listeners of this show are athletes and many of you are runners from 5Ks to Ultras and everything else in between. I also know that a lot of my audience members are travelers, local, global adventure, you name it. Imagine if those two interests overlapped like a Venn diagram where the confluence would be running a marathon on each continent in seven days. Impossible? Well, no. But how would you even manage the logistics of such a challenge? Well, that's where Dr. David Kelly comes in. David is the founder and Race Director of the Great World Race, an event in which participants complete a marathon on each of the seven continents over a seven day period. David is a renowned international endurance athlete and the visionary behind the Great World Race and other expeditions and adventures that challenge participants to traverse the world through a series of different athletic events. As a race organizer and the founder of Icecap Adventures Limited, he combines his passion for international athletics and polar expeditions with his medical background and skills. He's been a physician for over 15 years working with both the HSE and the NHS in Ireland and the UK David holds a medical degree with specializations in surgery and obstetrics from Trinity College, Dublin and a DCOM degree from National University of Ireland, Galway. He's traveled to the Arctic and Antarctic regions, providing medical support and emergency response for the athletes and the staff. His dedication to the sport has earned him numerous accolades and a dedicated following of fellow athletes and enthusiasts. David's journey into endurance sports began with a desire to explore the limits of human potential and to inspire others to pursue their own dreams, no matter how ambitious they may seem. His unique approach to combining adventure, endurance and global exploration has not only set him apart in the world of sports, but has also fostered a sense of international comradery and a cultural exchange among participants and spectators alike. His dedication to promoting teamwork, resilience and the spirit of adventure continues to inspire countless individuals around the world. Beyond his athletic endeavors, David is a passionate advocate for for environmental, conservation and sustainable living. He uses his platform to raise awareness about the importance of protecting our planet and encourages others to take action in their own communities. His efforts extend to supporting various charitable organizations and initiatives that align with his values of sustainability and global harmony. David, welcome to the show. It's great to have you on,

Chris. Much appreciated for the intro.

You bet.

Great to be here. Good. Glad to have you.

Glad we could kind of get things together and be able to do this. So there's a lot of things I want to cover and I know we'll bounce around a bit, but perhaps maybe you could lead us or take us from the start about learning more about what your early years were like, how you got into athletics and.

Yeah, no problem at all.

Adventure things as well as your medical career.

Yeah. So, Chris, initially I'm from a small town in the west of Ireland called Sligo, a population of about 30,000 people. So I obviously went to school there and when I graduated there, I studied the BCom, as you mentioned there, which is business, and I specialize in accountancy. And it was actually after that, that was in Galway. After that I went back and studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin. During them years as well, I was, I was like just kind of running crazy. Like loved basically everything about running track, cross country. Like I was addicted and actually still am. Like I'm still a huge fan and I tend to go to most of the World Championship and European Championship track every year. And so from there onwards I was. After I graduated medicine, I worked, as you said, in the UK and Ireland, which is the HSE and the NHS. And during that time in 2017, a friend of mine from Galway, which is maybe, you know, it's on the same course as Sligo, it's about two hours away. Richard Donovan had approached me to. He'd have been organizing Adventure Race in the North Pole in Antarctica since the early 2000s. Like, he was a really real innovator. And I think at once, at one stage, I think he was responsible for bringing up maybe 35 to 40% of the people all that were visiting the North Pole or any stage. So Richard had been organizing events, so he'd asked me to come on as the doctor. So from 2017 onwards, I was the medic on all his trips. And I also helped him out with some of the logistics and permitting processes. So that kind of led me on to set up my own event. But, you know, a lot of thanks has to go to him as well, because, you know, he was the visionary on these trips initially.

Wow, that's. That's impressive. So did the BCom then play the role in setting a foundation for the entrepreneurial aspect of developing iscap Adventures?

Yeah, it did. And I suppose it helped up a lot of the company set up in the tax setup as well. It did benefit it. And even during my medical years, I always had a burning desire to set up some form of company. And I had a. I had a couple other businesses as well. Like I had a. An aesthetics business like Botox and filler business for a while. But obviously I had to be. With all the travel I'm doing now, it's just not viable. I have to be around to do that.

Right.

And just when I got involved with Richard, I was always interested in the adventure race world. So that led me on to setting up Ice Cap Adventures. And here we are now.

So the thread of running and adventures kind of goes through whatever. From early adolescence to college to medical school. What was the transition to go from business school, so to speak, or, you know, business degree to medicine? I would imagine very few classes transferred over. I would imagine so that.

That is a very good Chris. And actually in Ireland, high school, we do what's called the Leave and Search. So your final set of exams is the Leave and Search. So I think in the US you kind of do the SATs, but so it's a bit different. In Ireland, you generally do six or seven subjects, and it can vary from languages to science to math to business. And depending on the points grades you get on them, you get accepted to university. So actually, after I completed the BCom, I actually went back to high school at 23 years of age to repeat the leaving certified.

Wow.

To get the grades, to get into medicine.

That good for you? You must have been very committed to that. So had you always had an interest in medicine?

Yeah, I had. No, I had, I always had an interest in science and I was always pretty good at science and maths. So when I finished business I was due to go on and do a master's in accountancy and I just started thinking to myself, do I really want to walk into an accountancy firm? And hey, maybe, maybe there's a bit as well, Chris. Maybe I was trying to avoid work as well, Chris, you know, it's college. Even though I think probably weren't the. Where it might have been a bit easier to medicine because it was just full, full on exams.

Right.

Yeah. But it's funny, when I was 23, I actually had to put on a school uniform when I went back, Chris, as well, 23 years of age, I was wearing a school uniform back. But yeah, I put the head.

You'll have to send those pictures to me, David, and we'll put them in LinkedIn.

Absolutely. Like, yeah.

Oh, that's great. That's great. So, okay, so now you're, you're sort of crewing, if you will, as, as the medical guy for these kinds of races. What sort of things did you see? Adventures. I mean, was it hypothermia and frostbite or. I mean, it seems such a different. I, I have done a fair amount of high altitude climbing and dealt with you know, pretty cold and low oxygen levels. But what is it like on the North Pole to deal with just, you know, health in general, but let alone athletes out there trying to do something.

Yeah. So I suppose that like at the North Pole it's very, very cold up there. Like it gets up to minus 41, minus 42. Now I know it gets cold in Wisconsin as well, but it's pretty bleak up there.

That, yeah, that beats us, I think.

Yeah. I suppose the one benefit you have of running Americans over doing an expedition up a mountain is it's la. It's generally lap, you know, it's obviously laps up there. So you can kind of avoid any of the major things happening by say stopping people and you know, getting them into change clothes, warmed their hands, warm their feet and stuff as well. Whereas as you fully appreciate when you're on a mountain, that's just not a, that's just not an option.

Yeah.

So, you know, it's. Even though there is an adventure aspect to this as well. There's not really many situations where people are unsafe or that there's any major issues. So you generally keep an eye. The key, and even the key with the great word race, it's all lab courses just to keep an eye on people and any problems that might happen, you generally get out ahead of them well in advance, and that makes their life easier. And also my life in these situations easier as well.

That's great. I know from folks that I've had on and talking about the, like the Badwater, I know that there's rules that people have to stop at a certain point and have a medical check, and if their, you know, vitals are showing that they're kind of in a bad spot, you know, they have the option of, you know, pausing and waiting and seeing. Getting checked again and seeing if it's, you know, good to go. And then they can continue or they can get, you know, medically DNF'd with it. And then I believe the rule. I don't know, this could be an urban myth, but that if anybody ever fusses back at the medical personnel, that they will be disqualified forever. Coming back to the. To that race. Is there anything like that with you? Like, did. Were there ever people where you said, hey, you know, you need to, you know, call it a day. This isn't your day for this race, and they fuss back at you or what's it like with the. With the interactions? Or are people all pretty, you know, pretty good about, you know, taking care of themselves and having a respect for, you know, what the weather's like?

Yeah, I suppose, again, I'm in lucky position as well that it's generally just a marathon. So in a lot of cases, Chris, you can get people across the line. Because if somebody just say, up at the North Pole, people might be out there maybe nine, 10 hours. Like, we were generally up there for anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. So people had time. So you could bring people in, get them warmed up, get them a cup of coffee, a cup of tea, you know, get them to change all their clothes. You know, 30 minutes in, rehydrating, getting some food on makes a big difference. And then as support crew, you might end up walking or jogging a lap with them as well, so you can keep an extra eye on them. And it's. It's funny you say that about people being pulled out. I'm. There's a guy in Ireland on the event last year, and I'm good friends with him, and I actually Met him last week when I was back in Ireland for a cup of coffee. And he was saying there's an adventure race up in. I think it's either northern Canada or northern Norway, but It's basically like 360 miles and you have to carry a sled with you. You drag a sled with you. I like, it's like Chris, I think he was actually medically. And he said he'd fry. He's pretty, you know, he's experienced. Adventure, dude. He said he had frost nip, not frost bite.

Oh.

And he said, like, I think he was pulled out at 340 miles left. Yeah.

Oh, my gosh. God. Oh, yeah. That would. That would be tough. I get it. But it's, you know, those kinds of distances and those kinds of conditions. I mean, your frontal lobe, I think, freezes before anything else and your judgment kind of goes out the window. I mean, you know, there's. As you and I both know, there's lots of stories about, you know, people hallucinating and seeing, you know, weird little things and talking to people or gremlins that aren't there, you know, sort of a thing. So it's. I mean, I really respect the, you know, medical staff that go out and have to, you know, have an appreciation for what the athlete's going through, but then also simultaneously saying, hey, the biggest responsibility is, you know, making sure that this person's safe, isn't going to get injured and is going to be able to make it back home in one piece. So that's, that's pretty. I can't. I've not heard of that race. I'll have to research it and put it in the show notes, too. So.

Yeah, but I suppose as well, you got to be very careful as well on events as well, because with adventure races, expeditions or anything like that, as I always say, toughness and stupidity are very good friends. So you have to be.

Yeah.

You know.

Yeah.

You don't want to be. You don't want to be brave and tough. I think it's like. I think I read a thing before. Like, it's a. It's, you know, the free climbers. And they said there's, there's old. There's old climbers and there's bold climbers. There's not old bald climbers. So pick one. Yeah, pick one or the other.

You know, it reminds me, I had. I've had Colin o' Brady on the show a couple of times, and the most recent time he had just done his, like, you know, crossing the Crossing Antarctica. And he had a. I forget how much it weighed, but it was, you know, it was well over 100, 150, I don't know what pounds that he was doing. And he, I think, you know, and he was doing it unsupported, solo. Although he did have some, oddly enough, good connectivity with somehow with. With something. I don't know if one of those sat phones or what it was, but he, I think kind of like right off the bat, if memory serves, this now a while back, like, fell into a, you know, a minor crevasse and, you know, and you're just sort of snow blind. You can't see the horizon, you know, from the sky. You can't differentiate and, you know, it's just. It's a mess. So I can't imagine doing, you know, 300 and some odd miles or kilometers and that kind of a thing. Gosh. Well, anyway, so let's, let's circle back to. We'll put on the entrepreneur cap for a second. So with Ice Cap Adventures Limited, tell us its origin story. How did that come up? Was the great world race its first event or, you know, tell us, you know, how that works?

Yeah, it was. So, as I said there, the events are kind of at the back end of Richard Donovan. So Richard actually sold all his events in 2023. I was always keen to obviously do an event, but I was never going to compete. Like, I'm. I'm very good friends. I was going to end up competing with him. So Rich is actually in the process of bringing people up to the edge of space in 2026 in a project known as space athletics. It's. Do you remember Felix Baumgartner? Remember Felix Baumgartner? It's about maybe 10 or 15 years ago, jumped out in the Red Bull project.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah.

So it's, it's similar technology. It's like helium balloons or, sorry, hydrogen balloons, bring people up. It's a panoramic view of the Earth and generally you have like eight people on the pod. But the aim is, the plan is have five people on the pod. They will have a treadmill. And the aim for his first expedition office to break the sub 4 milliliter mile in space. So that's. That's what he's.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, yeah. So is that. Is that drawing board or where. Where is he at with that? What a. What a wild adventure.

No, no, it's, it's. Yeah, no, it's. I think it know it's well beyond the drawing Board. I think the aim for it is 2026. There will be other like. Like, you know, just normal civilians going up on pods of eight, but there's. I think it's maybe the eight pod going up. It's going. Or, sorry, the fifth or either fifth or eighth pod, but I'm not sure. But they. They'll be the first sports event going up there. So it generally actually goes. It goes up from Florida, actually. Yeah, I think It's. I'm not 100 for you. I think you're about two hours up, two and a half hours up there and two hours down. So it's a pretty exciting project. So he's innovating, to say the least. Wow.

That. That is. I mean, the creativity of that and the Audac just really. That is wild. So is. Is Red Bull involved with that or does he have any big sponsors or is that just all kind of. No, put it together.

It's just. It's just early. It's just early stages, you know, early stages yet. So they have to confirm, obviously. Not like that. They want to get up to break the form in a mile and then go from there. But I suppose there's such a movement towards space the last couple of years.

Sure.

They won't be short of sponsors. Yeah, well, it's not.

Well, let's back channel.

Keep posted.

I'll keep that out on our socials. Yeah, that's. That is incredible. So.

Well, yeah, so just to actually backtrack the Ice Cap. So Richard sold all his events in 2023 and that led me to set up Ice Cap Adventures. And the great World Race was obviously the first event of that and last year was actually the first event in November. And obviously it went, you know, it went well. It went extremely well. We obviously got large, you know, widespread exposure. You know, we had obviously Peloton Starbucks Gentry on. We had ashley Paulson from iFit, you know, Gary Brecker, who's basically. I think it's on every platform now. He's also very good friends with Dana White, good friends of Donald Trump and stuff as well. Gary had his son doing the event as well. So we did. We did get wide, you know, widespread exposure. And it was great as well because we had. I'm not sure if you're aware of Sean Sworn or Greg o'. Rourdy. The two guys have one function in lung.

Yeah.

Both of them survived terminal cancer, so it was the first event they ever did together as well.

Wow.

So it's. Yeah. Sorry, just. I'm going off Point here, Ice Cap. So I set up Ice Cap and last year was the first event of it. Now, you know, we're in a good spot. We have, we're nearly close to capacity already six months out.

Congratulations.

I'm in a good spot as well, too.

Wow.

Yeah, so it's, yeah, so it's great. So two of my best friends are working with me full time on and I was, well, doing my childhood friends. So it's been great. Like, you can't be working with your buddies on something.

Wow. Well, I, I want to go deep into 2024 and then talk about what, 2025 starting to shape up like. So this is a good way to tee it up. I, I want to start off with that. You know, one of the things that I, you know, you, you very much publicize this on the website, which I deeply respect, that it's not only a test of physical and mental fortitude of participants, but you've also been able to do this. And this is, you know, kind of in my sweet spot. I really respect and appreciate this part of it promotes culture exchange and global unity that you bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds to share in the spirit of competition and cooperation. Could you maybe share some examples of how that, you know, showed itself in this last year in 2024?

Yeah, well, I suppose probably the most evident thing from a different background is we had the youngest ever to the 777 and the oldest, the youngest was 18, Merrick Chernay, and the oldest was Dan Little. So, like you have someone that's running like. And then if you want to compare or contrast as well, we have this was somewhat of elite ladies as well, running close to three hours. And then we have like people running seven, seven and a half hours. So there is a wide mixture of people, you know, I suppose from an age group and diversity background. And we've actually. Santos Karamuchi's from Boston and he actually was born in Nepal and he moved, he actually initially moved to Texas. So super interesting him giving his background on the contrast and thing. When he, he actually came to New York and he says like the big yellow taxis, like, he said he just couldn't believe it. But he said it was so funny because he said then like he went to Texas and he thought there was going to be big yellow taxes in Texas and he said it was just completely different. Like, and he said like, you know, because he there, he's a physical therapist and he also ran a pool hall in Nepal. Super interesting background. And then he said, like, when he Came to the US like he said he thought everything was going to be like New York, but then he said he moved to Texas. He said it was just kind of like barren fields. He said it was a complete contrast of what, you know, he was sold on before he moved over. So yeah, you have super, super interesting stories like that on people, you know, where people came from and their backgrounds.

Gotcha. Well, I just, I love that and I want to do kind of a deep dive and get kind of nerdy and granular with you. So I'm going to read some of my background research on this stuff. So tell me, fact check me and correct me if I have any errors in what I'm about to cover. Because it's, it was just so impressive to see who you had. I mean it's really kind of a who's who. But then also like some of these times that they're running in some of these circumstances and thinking, oh, and just, you know, 10 minutes ago I was on a jet and 10 hours ago I was in a different continent. So in 2024 you had again a lot of rock stars. You had Ashley Paulson, Jenny Simpson, David Kilgore, Bex Gentry. As you said, Jenny, for those that might not know, is a 2011 world champion in the 1500, was a late addition to the field and she I think was fresh off from New York City Marathon where she put in an amazing 2:31:54. Ashley's a two time winner of Badwater. David Kilgore won the 2023 World Marathon Challenge which was another seven continent seven day marathon series and joined. So for these kind of the who's who, how did you recruit them? Are they all buddies of yours? And you just said, hey, we want to put this together. Tell us how you know from the athletic and entrepreneurial aspect, how you were able to get these folks in.

Yeah, so I suppose we start with David Gligor. I knew David as well. Richard Donovan used to own the Warren Martin Challenge. So I was the doctor on that. So that's how I knew David. I would have been good enough bodies with him. I was actually texting him yesterday. Yeah, so the likes, I think he actually, he had said it to Bex and Becks was interested. That's how Becks came on the rest a lot of was just kind of word of mouth and advertising and you know, just someone knew somebody and they put them in contact or they're seeing potentially one of my ads or somebody. They just came across the website in The. Because Ashley Paulson actually contacted me in December 2023. Like, and like Ashley is just like a ball of energy. I was on a call with her for like maybe 40 minutes. I could have stayed on four hours with her. You know, she's. She's unbelievable. Like even when she was injured

post

squad, she was injured just before the marathon Cardagena, she like even in Miami. Like she is, I have to say, like no one can ever criticize her for being a sore loser because like she's unbelievably positive even though she was running with an injury and stuff like that. Like, I have to give serious kudos to her as well. Like, she's unbelievable. She's unbelievable to work with. And actually her husband Matt was there as well. He's a, he's super, super good guy. He actually, I think he actually launched. I don't want it because I know someone will end up probably ringing me up. I'm not sure is it a pickle or a paddle? Paddle brand. Apparel brand pretty recently as well. So they were great to deal with. And in the case of Jenny Simpson, I actually, it's funny, not that she remembered me, but I actually was up in. When Jenny actually was recruited into Boulder in University of Colorado. I was there the first day she actually arrived on campus. I was up there training for about maybe four or five week period. Now obviously I said it to her. She tried to pretend that she might have known me, but I just said Jenny, you don't remember me. It's all right, I can handle. My ego will be a bit more frail after, but that's okay. So I was obviously actually a huge fan of Jenny. I remember the year she won the world championships. She also got. She had two medals post that and she also had an Olympic medal. So I just thought she was an unbelievable competitor, very tough, like just brilliant. So I was always a big fan. So when I actually had. I was actually in New York when she ran that. It was about maybe 10 days before the Martin and I heard she'd retired. So I just, I had like, I had actually space. So I just actually caught. Actually one person dropped out maybe about a week beforehand. So I just contacted her in the back end. I sent a message on Instagram and I said how are you getting on this dad etc would be interested in doing the event. She kind of messaged me back and she goes, yeah, she messaged back to two days later she goes yeah, listen, I'd happy to set up a call. So I set up a call or like an. I just kind of talked her through it and I, I think she thought it was a scam initially. She goes, what's going on? She was just there. Like, she goes, you know, I'm kind of retired. And she, she actually rang. I'm friends with Ryan hall as well. She rang Ryan and she listened. What's the story? And she goes, what's with these guys? And Ryan goes, oh, these guys are legit. Like, he goes, I know this guy well. Like, you should do it. And then she was kind of over and back on the mail. I said, jenny, just do it. Don't even think about it. And her husband Jason, who super nice dude as well, like I talked to him on the call as well. He was laughing because he, he had said to her, I'm actually surprised you're even considering doing it. He goes, that's great. So eventually I just said, listen. I rang her. Then again, I said, listen, Jen, just do it. And she was right, I'm in. And then like I got a couple of texts afterwards, I can't believe I'm doing it, and stuff like that. But you know, she came back two days later. Two days later she was down in Cape Town. I met her in Cape Town. So we had a good laugh about it. Yeah,

I love that.

Yeah, I think it's, yeah. Like I just, it's funny as well because with Jenny, as I said in the race briefing, like, she's like, she's, she's up there with one of the greatest U. S. Athletes of all time. Like, like medals wise and stuff like that. It's like, it's very, very hard. Like she had four medals over like a 10 year period. I think she made like seven or eight World Olympic finals over that period as well, which is unbelievable.

Like, gosh, yeah, she's an animal. I mean, that's great. Yeah. And so that's what I mean. I mean it really is to launch something like this and to have such a who's who of the royalty of running was. Is just really impressive. And probably, I would imagine for you just managing everything probably isn't the fun part, but just being able to spend that time with that caliber of people and just my experience, I'm sure yours is the same. The people that do these kinds of things are just the kindest, sweetest salt of the earth, you know, folks. And just, you know, it's always like, I'm in awe of them and have great respect and they're just, you know, they're. A lot of times you meet People that you know are your heroes and you get disappointed. And I, I have to a t. Never had that experience with any, you know, distance athlete, which is, I think also kind of speaks to who they are, the fabric of their personality and composition.

Yeah, no, it was, to be fair, it was an outstanding crew of people that done the event like they were very, very easy going. It was a great group on the plane and as I said, they're in my lucky spot as well. A lot of, a lot of the support crew were all my childhood friends from home as well. So there's probably about maybe 12 was there and I think like, bar maybe two people, everyone's from my hometown, Sligo.

That good for you. That is, that is so cool. Now we've been talking about the marathon. I'm going to circle back and get nerdy about some of the stats and the numbers in a second. But before we do, you also have a half. Right. So there's a full marathon and a half marathon, is that right?

That is correct. That is correct.

And there is, if my data are correct, that there are 60 participants. How many were runners in which distances?

Yeah, so initially there was only one entrant in the half. But generally what happens, Chris, in these events, people do as people get a bit more fatigued. Some people do move up and down to the margin. So they might do maybe two margins on the first two corners. On the third continent, they might do a half Martin and move back up to the marathon. So I always advise people, if they're a bit unsure to start with the marathon because, you know, it's, we're, we always have time and they can always move down and stuff as well. So it's, that's what I always do say to people. Yeah, so that's the option there. So I think there was about, I think out of the total there might have been like five, maybe six people. Then that kind of move between the marathon and the half marathon, that's a

wonderful option because I could imagine, you know, even if people are hardy marathoners and stuff, the thought of doing seven in a row, let alone on a different continent every day, you know, would be a bit intimidating. So that's, I think that that's, that's very smart. That's very clever. So now I'm going to get nerdy for a second. So again, want to be fact checked. But I believe the marathons are all measured by AIMS and World Athletics and sanctioned by the respective national Athletic Federations. And the Antarctica race is also recognized by the Antarctica Athletics Federation, which to me, I think it's crazy to think there even is such a thing. And the race then meets all the criteria for recognition by Guinness World Records and the book of Alternative Records authorities. Is all that mouthful correct?

Yeah, that is all correct. And in a lucky spot as well. Like, say we have extremely experienced people on the ground at each location. The case of Cape Town with a company called Top Events. Andrew Bell is the leader there. And like, they initially organized the Cape Town Martin and they also organized the Kilimanjara Martin. Great to deal with in Perth. Dave Condi organized it.

Actually.

Dave is a very interesting guy. His wife, frankly, lovely. They run a tour operator company out of Sydney. Unbelievable to deal with. But Dave was actually the race director of the Sydney Olympic Martins men's and women's event. And he was also the. He was also the lead measure of the London Martin for 11 years. So, you know, it's. And then say in the cases of, well, Istanbul, it was the federation of Istanbul organized. They organized Istanbul Martin. So they actually organized the official Istanbul Martin and they organized the Martins there.

Wow.

And in. In Miami with a guy called Robert Pozo. Robert, brilliant guy. He actually set up the Miami Marathon, I think, in 2001 or 2002, and he sold it in 2011. So the people we have are extremely experienced.

Wow.

On organizing events, how do you go

about finding those people? I mean, in terms of. I mean, I do want to nerd out on logistics and stuff. I mean, just even that part of it, like, you know, is it. Is it such a small community that it's easy to kind of, you know, get to the right person or, you know, how. What's the level of difficulty and what's the mechanics behind the curtain to try and pull all those things together.

Yeah, it is. It is relatively. It is relatively easy. The running world is a small world as well. And like you, you would know, I would have had a lot of contacts off working Richard that time that I would have made myself. So that obviously made my life a lot easier. But the running world is a very small world. And I. I have a lot of friends that are actually coaching, say, elite and international athletes, and I'm friends with a few sports agents. So it's actually funny. The elite levels does filter down to, you know, I suppose the grassroot athletics as well. Generally someone who's involved in grassroots athletics knows all the people at the more senior level in each country as well. So it's somewhat easier to get it done. The fact that athletics background because you generally always know someone who knows somebody. And, you know, after that, it's just generally finding location. The one thing is, Chris, about running is all our courser loops courses are out and back courses, so you might have said 10 by 4.2 kilometer loops. They're extremely simple, simplistic to measure and stuff as well. So it's not like you have to kind of close down a city or anything like that. It's relatively, a relatively simple job to measure them. And then getting them ratified takes a bit of time as well. But it's, it's great. When you're working with good people, life is always easy.

That's really smart. That is really smart. I mean, everything you're saying, like, from being able to go up and down with the marathon in half and all that, what's it like for Antarctica? I mean, do, do people,

does someone

from Guinness or something go out there or like, how is that all measured out? That just seems like you're, you're kind of literally, you know, out in the middle of nowhere. And the complications with that tell us unpack Antarctica.

Yeah, yeah, it's just, it's the same as everything else, just measured with wheels, etc. Like, all the other courses are, wow. And you know, you go down, you're down there in advance and you know you have to measure that you're down a couple of days in advance or the season before, get it measured out. And you know, it's. Then you just submit. Yeah. So it's, it's, it's, it's funny as well because you always have people coming back saying, oh, it's. This is over distance and that's over distance. But like with GPS is when you're cutting corners or like when you're doing different, like when you're going around loop courses and all that, you generally will be a bit over distance because people always say, and I'm just there because these guys have, have like measured hundreds of marathons. They're all, they're all. And we always kind of say, if it's over distance there, we just say, listen, we gave you that extra couple of hundred meters for free.

Let's get. Very generous.

Yeah, yeah. So I said, we won't charge, we won't charge you for that.

So what is it like? Sorry, go ahead.

Just actually. Well, I deal with it actually in Antarctica as well. I've obviously been in multiple locations in Antarctica. I've been in a couple locations flying in from Cape Town. I've also been in, flying in from Pontarenas. In Chile. But the, the group we work with, it's a White desert kind of extremely premium brand owner. They're unbelievable to work with. The CEO down there, Patrick Woodhead, outstanding and his right amount here and it's just on. But they're unbelievable. Like they're, they're like a breath of fresh air to deal with. And it's funny, they're bread of fresh air to deal with in like a pretty, you know, hazardous location.

Right.

As can happen from time to time, you know. But they're. I'm in a lucky position in that situation.

So is it then like. Sorry to be like this is probably one of the dumbest questions I'll ask. But like so the. A plane lands and then people disembark and then. Then what is it tents? Are there structures? Is the course near the airstrip or how does that. I can't even picture in my mind like what happens next.

Yeah. So just to go back when Patrick said it back up, I think Patrick set it up in maybe 0, 6 or 7. It was 310 and three credit cards is what he told me. That's how we started off.

Good.

Yeah. And he was an adventurer himself. He attracted cross the Antarctica, he tracked across a few things. He broke a couple of world records. Well, great guy, super guy to deal with now, like. But yeah, Patrick, because I was asking because yeah, Dave, he says I treat tents and three credit cards. It has changed a lot since then. Like they are like there's kind of semi solid structures there. It is unbelievably high end because like I'd been used to being down there in different locations and the food generally in some of the arctic conditions, you know, food and toiletries, they're not, they're fine, but they're not like, you know, it's not like you're getting grand course meals. Of course that actually is, that actually is the case in White Desert. The food is unbelievable down here. Like because I went in. I was on a sat phone ring in Cape Town. Someone goes to younger and they just handed me a burrito and then I came in when everyone was. When I was finished. It was like beef Birguan was being served. There was lovely cheeses. There was actually really good coffee and everything. So the, the standard they do down there is out it is second to none.

That's cool.

It is unbelievable. Like yeah, so that Aussie helps everyone as well because you know, it gets it off to a good start. Good food, good drink. Everyone's pretty delighted.

Yeah. And that. And that is the first part of the leg, right, that's everyone starts in. Are they. Do they meet in Cape Town and then go to Antarctica or do they run in Cape Town or tell. Yeah, maybe step through the countries and I'll go back to being nerdy.

Yeah, perfect. Sorry as well. You just asked. Just because had answered the question you said, you know how when we get off the plane. So when we get off the plane in Antarctica the start line is about 3 or we walk about, just get to the 10th, about 3 or 400 meters from where the plane lands. And then the course is 10.55km and it goes past the Runway. There's two smaller planes there known as Baslers, which are the planes that fly to the South Pole. It we pass there, we also kind of pass in and out around the mountain range as well. So it's extremely picturesque down there. And so that's, that's how we get started. So very much we get down around, get started straight away so people have a bit of time at the finish and just to. Then everyone meets in Cape Town. So in this year it's the same dates as last year. This year, November 12 we meet in Cape Town. November 13 there's a pre race briefing with myself. November 14 there's a race briefing with the Antarctic Logistics Company. And November 15 is when we fly in. So we fly in from Cape Town airport, it's about five to five and a half hours in. We land, we're about eight hours on the ice. We start, get started pretty quickly by five, five and a half hours back. Second marathon is in Cape Town along Sea Point promenade. So there we passed by the World cup soccer stadium. I think it held the World cup soccer semifinals when the World cup was in South Africa. Also Table Mountain is in the distance. When you're on the course, you're along the Atlantic coast.

Beautiful in the.

Then we fly to Perth. In the case of Perth is along the Swan River. It is right beside the Optus Stadium which is the main cricket ground in Australian rules ground in part and also the Crown Casino is on the course. Last year we did Istanbul, Europe and Asia, but we have changed it up. This year we're going to go to Abu Dhabi in UAE and the Algarve in Portugal. So they'll all be kind of looped courses. Then the sixth course then is in Cartagena, Colombia. It's along the Caribbean coast. It's about two and a half kilometers outside the Old Town which is a famous UNESCO site.

It's.

It could be, it's Warm and humid in Cartagena. That is one issue down there, but it's pretty picturesque place as well. And then we finish in a Miami Beach. We start to finish on 53rd street on Miami Beach Boardwalk.

Wow.

So it's. That's kind of a quick synopsis of all the locations.

Wow, that. That is awesome. Okay, well, we'll circle back to that. Thank you for that, that overview. So one of the things just back maybe to the entrepreneurial side of it. So it's, it's not cheap. You know, registration, I think last year was in dollars, I think around 52,000. So in that. But that was all inclusive. So there were chartered flights, I presume There's. I don't know if there's. Was it all chartered flights or were there other.

Okay, no, it was, it was, it was all chartered flights. So Antarctica chartered the Antarctic Logistics Company, White Desert charter the plane. It's an Airbus A340 into Antarctica. And then from there onwards, it's a private business class charter jet around the world.

Wow.

So the jet we used like last year, the Rolling Stones had used it for previous world tour. Guns and Roses. I'd use it for previous world tour. So it was all live, flat seats. Wow. VIP catering, like, the food, everything on it was very, very good. Like so. And it was actually there was a couch on the plane that one of the physical therapists that was there was doing some treatments and it was actually Axl Rose who requested the couch to be installed.

That's a great, great backstory. And I would imagine too, then that lends itself to the nice maintenance of the camaraderie and story sharing and things like that. And also just to the logistical speed of things that, you know, rather than, you know, worrying about getting people on board and, you know, how was, like, how was passports and stuff like that? Was that a. A hassle from country to country or how do you manage that?

Yeah, so good question. So with the event as well, you do need a charter jet. You wouldn't be able to do with like, like say fly United.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You might. There's some chance if you maybe have five or six people, you might be able to do it. Like fly culture, fly, you know. Right. Regular flights. When you do get up in the numbers, there's no way. Because getting people through airports. Yeah, like getting say 60, 80 to 80 people with my crew through airports, it's somewhat of a slow process. And you do need a private charter jet. Passports, as I said, it's generally people always take care of their own visas. But I generally kind of give light advice on it. But in most cases, a lot of countries, including US only probably require a visa for Australia. And if you're non US from the us most of the other places were that was actually there was one or two actually countries that people had to get visas for, like South Africa and stuff as well. But generally it's somewhat of a simple process. And most actually these applications now are relatively simple. Like I think back to when I think it was the Morrison visa to come to the USA 25, 30 years ago, it was a bit of a ordeal to get it right. But now most these applications are online. Yeah, in the case of Australia, I think my application took about seven minutes. So it's.

That's good.

But Chris, there's always had. Chris, there's all those hassle passports, there's all those lost passports. There's always. With all the bags and movement generally now everyone always finds it, but there's generally always something on planes. It turns out we were on the plane from Perth and one of the guys, because they check all the passwords just before we leave, one of the guys is on the plane and couldn't find his passport. And he wouldn't have got in. He wouldn't have got into Istanbul and couldn't find his passport. Couldn't find his passport. Literally about 20 minutes before we land, someone opened up their backpack, they put his passport Stake me into their backpack.

Oh, my gosh. Wow. Yeah, I would imagine those kinds of things, you know, just bound to happen. I mean, just statistically speaking, there's going to be hiccups here and there.

So yeah, that's going to happen as well. People in, you know, close proximity, everyone hanging out, people getting, you know, coffees and dinners and stuff. Maybe in airports they're sitting down, people leave passports and stuff down and then.

Right.

All of a sudden, so. So it's definitely one thing that I've said to people over and over. Your password is your friend. Do not lose it. You can lose everything else that we cannot solve.

So are you kind of like the mother hen, so to speak? I don't mean that in a negative way, but I mean, are you kind of herding the cats, so to speak, to make sure that everything runs on time and all the background stuff, let alone the athletic, having to deal with the athletes?

Yeah, absolutely. No, I am. And it's. There's. There's always a, I suppose a method to the madness as well. If we're from a timeline point of View, we always have plenty of time to complete the event, but there is certain limitations. Well, there's a couple of airports where they might be closed down for a couple hours, maybe three or four hours at night time. So you kind of have to meet them deadlines now. It's not the end of the world if you miss them. However, it's a lot easier if you adhere to them. And there's certain locations like that. Even avoiding traffic in certain cities and stuff as well. Oh gosh, it always makes. Because even like if you can get to an Airport in 30 minutes instead of being say, stuck in traffic for two and a half hours, it's a lot easier for the athletes and it's a lot easier for me. And even ease of going through the airports, we're gonna, we're gonna land in Pharaoh this year, which is in the port in Portugal. It's down the Algarve that time of year. There's only about 30 flights going to Pharaoh a year or, sorry, a day. So like it'll be a quiet airport that time of year. And plus it's like, it's really good weather. It's like mid-60s, no humidity that time of year. So simple things like that make life a lot easier. That's for the participants and myself. So there's always a bit of thought in the background to that as well.

How do you like when you do land, Is it like one big bus that can accommodate 80 people? Is it a, is it a parade of smaller buses? How do you even deal with that to get to, you know, the race sites and stuff?

Yeah, generally it's two buses for the participants and generally we have a third bus for bags as well.

Oh sure.

That's generally the way we do it. Like. Yeah, because people bring a lot of baggage with them on, on these events.

And so with dealing with those kinds of things, is that just also with. With local outfitters, so to speak, to be able to coordinate all those kinds of things and do people. There's. I'm guessing there's not enough time for someone to check into a hotel. Is. Does everybody just generally sleep on the plane or how does that work?

Yeah, so with whoever organized the marathon at each location, they generally will take care of the buses for me as well. Because a lot of these people, if they're used to organizing big city marathon, they're used to dealing with bus companies, etc. So the logistics company at each location just take care of all the bosses, etc. For me, that makes my life a lot easier because it Just cuts out an extra phone call or an extra email thread that I have to follow up on. As you know, these things accumulate pretty quickly in last year's event. Regarding the hotel, we. We didn't have any overnight hotel. But the aim this year is actually, despite us having one more location, we probably have six or seven hours, like six hours, seven hours less on the plane because we don't have any fuel and stops. It's going to be all direct flights this year, ranging from about 8 and a half to 11 and a half hours, with the exception of Cartagena to Miami, which is about two and a half hours. So the aim is to have an overnight in Abu Dhabi and also the aim is to get arrived back in Miami the night before the final Martin and another nice overnight hotel there.

Wow. Do you keep the same pilot or do they swap out. Do you swap out pilot, you know, with.

No, no, the pilots swap out because even like the pilots will be swapping out after every. Every flight. It's the charger company takes care of that now as well. And even the staff. Wow. The air staff check out as well. Now, the air shortage were excellent last run, but they might be gone. They might be there for the first leg and they might come back on the fourth leg, but they're not there for the whole time because obviously it's all. With aviation law as well. There's only certain amount of hours they can fly per month as well, like and per day.

Yeah. You don't want to be in an endurance race for them. So that's. That's good. I just. I wondered about that too.

No, no, absolutely not. No, no.

Yeah, that's great. So. Okay, so I'm gonna.

Yeah, it'd be the same. It'd be the exact same guidelines as any regular plane, except that it has

gun Axl Rose's couch in it. So.

Yeah, that's so cool down the back.

Yeah. So now I'm gonna get my nerd hat on again. So I saw in Runner's World, looked at the results, and I. I'll put these. It's hard to hear sometimes in a. In a podcast oral point, but I'll also put this in the LinkedIn Companion article. But I want to do. I'm going to run down through some of the records and some highlights and then of the data and then I'm going to. If you don't mind, after I've gone through them, just pick and choose whichever you want to comment on to give some color commentary. So I'll run through My quick little bulleted list. And then, you know, feel free to weigh in, weigh in on any or all of these. So, pardon me, Hillary Kapish, I think. Is that how you pronounce her last name?

That is correct, yeah.

Good. From the States set a new women's world record of 3:12:12 for the fastest average marathon time for seven marathons and seven continents within seven days. And after this, I'm just going to call it 777 to make it easier on my tongue. The first four women broke the existing record of 3 hours, 25 minutes and 57 seconds. Hillary and Bex Gentry from Great Britain set a new women's world record for the shortest duration to complete 777, doing so in six days, three hours and 53 minutes. The first 14 women marathon finishers broke the existing record of six days, seven hours and 58 minutes. You commented on Marek and Dan being the youngest, Merrick and the oldest, Dan, 81, to do a 777. Kim Como from the States set a new women's world record for the shortest duration to complete seven half marathons on seven continents, doing it in six days, three hours and 14 minutes. William Munsell from Ireland set a new men's Antarctica continental marathon record of 2 hours, 38 minutes and 42 seconds, which just blows me away. And in the best of conditions, to run a 3 or 238 is pretty impressive, let alone an Antarctica. And then Ashley Paulson from the States set a new women's world, or, pardon me, a new women's Antarctica continental marathon record of 3 hours, 18 minutes and 2 seconds. Tackling snow and ice at what I read was 3 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures. And then I think you mentioned, made reference to this, she had an injury during the Cartagena race. And the temperatures, just to have listeners realize the difference from the start toward the end was 92 degrees Fahrenheit. So just, you know, unbelievable. And. And also tip of the hat again and a secondary shout out to Sean and Greg to, you know, doing all these kinds of things with one functioning lung.

So.

So that's kind of my highlight reel of the stats. Any, you know, color commentary you want to weigh in on with any of those experiences of, you know, what you witnessed or what it was like?

Yeah, so actually just, I suppose, comment on Hillary first. Hillary ended up, I think, entering in maybe July of last year. I was, as it turns out, I was actually in Vegas at the time. And so was she. And she set up a call. I ended up talking Her. She signed up and Hillary actually had ran New York just about maybe 10 or 12 days before we started. She ran 244 in New York. So when she came in, she would have been relatively relative unknown, as was compared to Beck's and Ashley as well. And Shereen Nigam, the other lady, actually had. Actually, Shereen had actually ran in the Olympics for Lebanon, but she'd also skied in three previous Winter Olympics for Lebanon as well.

Wow.

So she. Yeah, so pretty interesting background there as well. So Hillary came in and there was great camaraderie with all the ladies early on and there. I will say one thing about them, Chris, they're unbelievably durable.

Like, wow.

Like, I think I was talking to Bex and even Hillary, like, they were cycling, they were running like about 110 miles a week. I think Bex might have been running 130 mile a week. Like, she was running this. She is a young child. She was also running a peloton and probably in the six or eight weeks after it was like the winter in New York. Like, she just. They're unbelievably tough. And Jordan Bets had rang me maybe two and a half weeks before the event and she was running to pick up her child and she like stopped her toe in a bed and she was all swollen.

Oh, gosh.

She thought her toe was broken, but she didn't bother going. So like about four days later, she just ran 30. 30 miles or 32 miles around the perimeter of New York. She said it was painful, but she said I should be fine. So it's. It was. Wow, it was great. And I just said, yeah, it was great. And I was a. Hillary broke the fastest average record. You know, I think she's. I actually talked to her. She's talking about potentially coming back this year. She said she'll decide in the next couple of weeks.

Wow.

So hopefully she does. And I know Ashley. I've talked to Ashley a couple of weeks back as well, as she is also potentially keen to come back as well. I think she has her eyes on that record. But again, nice. She's unbelievably durable as well. If she had a labor of tear pre the Cartagena race, she ran in her hip. She ran the next. She ran the two marathons. And like when I talked to Ashley In December of 23, she had torn ligaments in her fault in October of 23, had got surgery seven weeks later, she had ran 100 mile race in Vegas and broke the record. I think two weeks after that, she had ran another 100 mile day. So like, man, can you.

Gosh, yeah.

No, I can't before. From a medical point of view, Chris, I'm not, I'm not even going to get into.

Right. Exactly

how bad that is. But I was laughing with her. I think she contacted her orthopedic surgeon, goes, this fine. She goes, I can't say it's fine. He goes, I'm not sure it'll do any harm, but I can't say it's fine.

Yeah.

So like saying that to her is just saying like, oh, you're fine, just go out. Right. Yeah. Wow. They're just really, they're really, really tough, I have to say. Like, it's, they are like. And just from a volume point of view, intensity point of view. And to be fair, there wasn't like, with these events and the level they're run at, people are generally fatigued and tired. So like, with that you might get people that are a bit annoyed at situations. There was zero of that. It was all extremely positive, which is. And over a seven, eight day period, that's not just put on because there will be fractures there that will come out. But like, not, not with the poor ladies. They were an absolute breath of fresh air, as was everyone else on the event.

Yeah, you know, that's a good point too. I mean, just, you know, the stress of dealing with things and also wanting to perform well, it's not one of these things of, gee, I hope I finish. It's like, gee, I hope I win or I set a record or I, you know, PR or whatever. But you just that, that, you know, friends. Friends and neighbors that travel with each other in close quarters all the time can become very crabby, you know, or, you know. Yeah. That just that circumstance can be stressful and difficult, but the fact that they're able to, you know, keep it together and to have like you said, that kind of durability. That's a great word with it. To be able to do those kinds of things under those kinds of circumstances, really a, you know, deep respect and tip of the hat to them. That's impressive.

Yeah, no, it's brilliant. And then I, I suppose you comment on marek, who was 18, who signed up to do it. Like he was just, he hadn't even started. He had done a couple of weeks in college because we were laughing. He was in. It's not sorority group because he's.

Fraternity.

Yeah, fraternity. And he actually. Sorry, fraternity. He was actually in a fraternity. So he had only joined a Fraternity about six weeks beforehand. He was a freshman in college in University of Michigan. And like, I think the guy's just saying, like, you're doing what? Like, because obviously everybody's just, just there partying and stuff like that. Like, and they, because I think someone asked him, like, did they leave you alone? And he said, I probably shouldn't have said I was doing anything because I think they made it worse for him. But very, yeah, very durable. He was 18 when he done it as well. Like, great, great guy to deal with as well. And then obviously the legend that is Dan Little. Dan Little is back again this year, like 81 years of age, wants to do the event till he's 90 years of age. Like just an absolute breath of fresh air. Runs every day, used to actually play tennis. He runs a law firm down in Oklahoma. He initially went to Harvard, then he went to Oklahoma Law, like, just so positive. And wow, you know, he testament to testament that age is not a number. And he just said, you know, if you, if you don't use it, you lose it. And he said, at my age, he said, he said you just, you can lose it very quickly. It's, it's, it's actually I heard a quote there, it's about two months ago I heard a quote. It was a lady was 90 years of age and she said if I, to give anyone advice, she goes, when I look back now, if I didn't own at 80, I was still young. It's a good, it's good advice to take on board.

No kidding. That's. That is good. Wow. Well, and again, just that whole diversity of all these, you know, like you've got world class athletes, you've got Olympians, you've got, you know, a freshman in undergrad and you've got a 81 year old attorney, you know, who ain't quitting yet. You know, just all of that just, you know, kind of gives me the proverbial goosebumps of imagining the kinds of conversations and the kinds of, you know, relationships and friendships that were, you know, put together, you know, with tip of the hat to you, you know, thanks to you for having these opportunities where such people can come together and have these kinds of experiences is pretty amazing.

No, much appreciated because I appreciate sentiment.

So with holding such an event, what is it like for you, like, personally? I mean, part of it sounds kind of cool how you were able to design it with a lot of, you know, lifelong friends, but you know, what's it like for you from just, you know, being, you know, thank goodness things went well and you know, everybody like did amazing work but you know, share what, what the emotional and, and whatever other part of it was like for you to, to do this sort of a thing.

Yeah. Obviously I consider myself as supposed to handle stress pretty well. So it's just very much from a logical point of view. It's a step by step process. You know, you, you have an idea that you know the locations you have, you know the planes you're going to use and then it's very much just fill in the planes and execute. I suppose last year was. Yeah, last year was the first year of the event. A lot of it did I lie on my shoulders. Like I had two of my friends, Darren McDermott and Joseph Galler, two lads are like, I know the lads since like probably over 30 years.

Wow.

The two of them we work with that Durham was actually the lead coach of Paralympics Ireland and Joe was a fitness trainer. So the two guys were like, just help me out in the background. A lot of it did fall on me initially because I probably knew the logistics new the ins and outs of all the courses and stuff as well. And Dermot had been on one or two projects with Richard Donovan as well previously, but maybe not in the same in depth knowledge as me. So any of the participants we talked to, I had to talk to them. I threw most of the mails and stuff as well. So I suppose I did a majority of it. But the guys were in there, we were going around to expos and they're obviously full time with me now and they're taking over some of the sales process and they know the project inside out now as well. So that's great. It's as I said there because people are saying how do you get on working with them? I said the only criticism I have of the two guys and it's actually a testament to them is they're very difficult to pay. They do not want to take money off me. It's unbelievable. Like. Yeah, yeah. So that's the type of friendship you're talking about.

Wow, that's. Well, how heartwarming that must be in so many different levels then. That's great. So you talked about the new itinerary for 2025. Do you think that like with. The only question I have, I guess maybe initially with this is like the. Did you say Abu Dhabi in the uae? Is that one of the new cities?

That is correct.

Is that going to be. Is heat going to be an issue with that one? Sort of like in Colombia or what do you expect with that that might be different?

Yeah. So it is going to be warm, Chris. And with these events you're generally going to have, I always say you're going to have one probably event at nighttime and you're probably going to have one event in the heat. In Abu Dhabi, the aim is probably to arrive pretty early in the morning. Actually in Abu Dhabi it gets quite warm in the afternoon. So like the aim is probably to get arrived there early in the morning and run early in the morning. Because with events as well, Chris, it's not a big deal if you can get like, say people are running four hours, five hours if they get the first three or four hours over where you're in kind of darkness or temperate temperatures, once you get to the last couple of miles, you will get through it. It's not a problem. It's, you know, we just want to try and somewhat circumvent.

Yeah.

Starting in the sun, but sometimes there's no right, sometimes there's no, there's no real solution around that. But starting certainly. But the aiming Abu Dhabi, would you start early in the morning? And the aiming, the aim at Cartagen is to arrive at nighttime and start like late night time and probably finish like the last finish would be early in the morning and get to Miami. So I do try and avoid any extremes of temperatures, but sometimes it is unavoidable as well.

That's so smart too. And I would imagine, you know, one of the things we haven't even said, it's just the whole aspect of considering time zones and jet lag and things along those lines too. So sometimes, you know, getting up and running in the middle of the night may not feel like it's the middle of the night other than it's dark outside. So I just, I again, I, I can't imagine what it's like for the athlete. Well, you too. I mean for anybody on, on this adventure to you know what that's like of just all these different kinds of things. So off mic, when we were just kind of chatting before we got going, you also, I had mentioned, and I also mentioned in the intro about being a passionate advocate for environmental conservation. What is it, how is it that you manage the offset for the carbon emissions? You're involved with something with that as well, is that right?

Yeah. So in the case of White Desert. White Desert do all the write off in Antarctica. So they've been carbon neutral since 2007 and they have. Yeah, so they have. Because they obviously bring in a lot of science projects There as well to various bases. So in the case of Antarctica, although it's a, you know, commercial venture where they're bringing people down to the camp, they do do a lot of flights in to various research bases in, in the area. So I think their aim as well they have, it's called a net zero by 2050. It's some science based target in line with the Paris agreement that they have plans for. Yeah, so that's in Antarctica. In the case of the other offset, I do offset it with a company in the US and what they do is it's like a carbon offset and they offset it in various different projects around the world which you know, can vary between obviously forestation, there is other ones as well with blue algae and things as well. So it's, they try and get a mix of conservation projects in different locations. We try and get it on each of the continents. So it's somewhat, you know, it's somewhat neutral across all the contents but it's not always as easy to get and stuff like that. But that's, that's what I do and you just don't have a choice these as well. You have to be very cognizant of, of what you're doing out there as well. And but as I say to people as well, even though it is a private jet around the world, you know it is only a once off event and stuff like that and we, we do it here at all the guidelines so but you know, it's good and yeah, you have no choice as well. Like I think it'd be very foolish and naive to think that, you know, you have to be thinking about the environment at all times as well.

Yeah, brilliant. That's again just all the little minutiae, all the little detail kinds of things seem so well thought out and with great execution and creativity. So I also have to ask what advice for listeners that maybe get inspired and motivated about this and come to your website and look at things. We'll put links in the show notes and on LinkedIn. What advice would you give to someone that's aspiring to participate in the great world race in 2025?

I would say, Chris, sign up straight away. I like to think that we provide a life changing service and event and I do. I, I think a lot of people when they do events like this they make lifelong friends and it's also sometimes a dividing line in their life that there's pre great world race and there's post great world race and people do often see things differently afterwards. And I'VE had numerous calls after the event last year. People said they were thinking about changing career and they just did look at things a lot differently. So if that's the least I can do, you know, I've definitely achieved my goal and I, I want to, I want to have a situation that like when everyone does the events that I organized that that is the best event they've ever done or up there with it because you know, it's not a cheap price tag. But that's what I want to provide and I believe we do provide that as well. I said it's hands on approach. We Dermot Dermish as well, my right hand man. Dermot coached 14 of the athletes last year as well. So he's coached a couple of Olympians. He's coached like dozens of D1 athletes that have come here on scholarship and international athletes. So any help, that's all provided and that's all part of the entry fee. And it's not like he's not over and back on mate. He generally talks to their runners two, three times a week as well. So it's very much a hands on approach and if anyone is unsure if they'll get through it. We had two people last year that signed up with about just under four months left. Nader and I ran a marathon before and we got them through the event.

Wow, that's bravo, Bravo. That is really impressive. Well, and again just the whole going marathon, half marathon, whatever. You have really thought out the options and opportunities to be able to make this, you know, global to people that are, you know, go from wherever they were pre marathon to actually achieving such a, you know, a life in this instance, as you've said, a life changing kind of experience in, in doing my background. Is there a documentary in the works? I thought I saw something on IMDb or something. Is, is that there?

There is, there is actually documentary in the works now the one on IMDb might not be it but we actually have, I actually have a documentary. I'm getting it produced at the moment. I'm hoping it should be out hopefully in the next eight weeks. But these things, Chris, you know, they also take a bit time. Yeah, right. So we probably definitely have it posted up and you know, YouTube etc. And we let, we definitely get a posted out there. So I'll definitely send you on a link when we have it done.

Good. I'll share that with all, all the platforms and audience that I have as well too. So I also have to ask, do you, do you have time to Compete anymore. Do you still run competitive?

No, it's. I probably think about it every day, Chris. I do miss it. Yeah, like, but as I said there, I, I'm probably retired like 10 or 12 years now. I retired at the bottom. The dream was definitely over. So. No, I do, I jog once or twice a week. I have a couple, like, I have a couple injuries, calf injuries and stuff like that. So I run maybe four or five miles twice a week and I kind of keep somewhat healthy, do a bit of gym work. But no, to say, to say I train like the old days would be. Would be. Would definitely be a lie and an exaggeration. But I do miss it, like. And I'm a huge, I'm a huge athletics fan. I do. But I do miss the competitive side, I suppose a singular focus as well of athletics as well. Like, I was, I was a good club. Like, I ran for Ireland a couple of times internationally. I was a good club, like, you know, club a level athlete. But I, I do miss the competitive side as well. But then again, like, you know, I, I take a lot of pauses from it as well. Yeah, a huge amount of my friends, like the two guys that are working on me were friends from running and stuff as well. So, you know, you make such good friends from running as well because you're, you're kind of. It's not exactly a glamorous sport when you're out there in the west of Ireland running through mucky fields and wind and rain.

Right. Yeah. You there. Every run in Ireland, I think, is more like an adventure race. I think so, yeah. That's good. Well, yeah, and I mean, my gosh, with your calendar and your time, I can't imagine how you could, you know, fit it, Fit it in even. So that's, it's, it's good that you do what you're doing to be able to have that involvement and give the opportunity to so many others.

So, so just, just to pick up that point. Sorry, I just want to. Yeah, just to pick up that point about travel. Just to let you know, there's a guy who done it last year, Dan Rebella, He's. He works for IBM. He's a C suite executive with IBM. He's going to do it again this year. Dan traveled, I think he traveled 1.2 million miles last year flying and he ran, he runs every day, gets off the plane. So I can use excuses, everybody can use excuse that they're busy and travel, but he's. I think Dan, is it like he's A specimen of a man. He's great guy to deal. I met him when I was in Boston for the marathon and stuff like that. So just on the travel and all that, I would like to use excuses. I, I, I, I cannot use excuses when I hear that because he said he generally does push ups and sit ups on the plane and then when he gets to tell he goes for a 10 mile run. So I cannot turn around and make excuses about my own travel.

Well, I'm so sad you said that Dave, because now I feel really guilty. So. Yeah, yeah. That's impressive. Well that's, and that is impressive as well as inspirational. So that's pretty cool. Thank you for giving him that shout out. So Dave, we've covered a lot of territory. Is there anything that we've missed or that you'd like to add before we start to wrap up?

No. Listen Chris, I appreciate the time with you as well and you obviously have done your research, very insightful questions and it's great, great to talk to you. But overall, if anyone, if anyone is interested, they can contact me. All the mails and contacts come directly through to me on the website. So I'll happily set up a call ring that wants to talk through the event and even if it's only an inquiry for future years, I'm always here.

That's great. Good. Yeah. And I will attest to that. You're very open and responsive and you know that's, that's not always the case with, with anything, let alone these kinds of events and whatnot. So we'll put these in the show notes but to learn more, to register, to connect. I know you have a YouTube channel, you've got a podcast yourself. Are those some of the good ways as well as the website?

Yeah. And I'd say if anyone wants a bit of insight into the event as well, we're doing a couple of podcasts now with some of the people that did it last year as well. I'm kind of back recording a lot of travel the last couple months on back recording. So in the next couple of weeks you will have people that will have be releasing the podcast that done the event. So they'll give you a bit of insight as well. And if anyone's interested as well, if they send me a mail, all the participants from last year, a lot of them are more than happy to have a conversation with them as well so they can get a bit of advice on what it's like being down in, down in the weeds during the event.

Good. Awesome. Well and if some of the listeners are like me, I typically consume my podcasts while I'm out on a run. So you know, we'll put all these things in the show notes. You don't need to, you know, stop your pace right now. Just they'll all be there waiting for you in the LinkedIn companion piece as well. So David, man, thank you so much for taking the time to be on. I've so enjoyed it and I've so been looking forward to it and just really impressed with what you've been able to accomplish. Thank you for making the time today.

My pleasure, Chris. I seriously appreciate your time.

As a reminder, listeners can read a summary of this episode and access links to the show notes via my LinkedIn Top Voice Companion article, along with past gifts as well. I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I have, and I hope it will help you in your journey to living your life in full. Until next time, Living a Life in Full is a production of Stout Media, a subsidiary of Gordian Knot, LLC. Assistant Producer Gracie Wong Music Dan O' Brien Executive Producer and Host, Dr. Chris Stout to learn more, stop by our website at lifeinfull for show notes and please recommend us to your friends and subscribe on your favorite platform. And as for the obligatory disclaimer, this podcast is for general information uses only and does not constitute the practice of psychology, medicine, nutrition or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical or psychological advice. No doctor patient relationship is formed. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I take conflicts of interest seriously. For all of my disclosures as well as show notes, please see livingalifeinfull.org podcast and my LinkedIn profile. Thanks and until next time,