Mike O'Shea hails from Co Kerry and he is quite literally AS HARD AS NAILS. This man has climbed remote peaks and trekked across ice caps in temperates as low as -50 degrees. Here Mike tells us why he takes on these mammoth challenges and about some of the incredible incidents along the way. A really incredible insight into Polar Expeditions and ad…

When Brian Maher told his family he wanted to run the marathon they all burst out laughing. At the time, Brian struggled to run just 1km. However, determined to prove his family wrong, Brian put on his trainers and hit the pavement to train for his big day. A year later, Brian completed five marathons in 5 days. A year later he ran 126 miles non-st…

Rob Cummins was a difficult teenager. He smokes, drank and liked to cause trouble. By the time he hit his 20s, he was smoking up to 60 cigarettes a day. Life took a major turn when he bought a mountain bike and realised he quite enjoyed the pain of competing. And there really has been no stopping him ever since. Rob tells us all about his journey f…

Rookies Claire McCluskey and Nick Russell recently sailed across the Atlantic. The idea was hatched over a few pints in the pub. The only thing standing between them and the adventure was the fact that neither of them had huge experience of offshore sailing! But that wasn't enough to stand in their way. The duo took on courses and dedicated three y…

Columbia Sportswear athlete, Richard Nunan, is one of Ireland's top endurance athletes. He has completed the Wicklow Round, competed at the Adventure Racing World Championships and is a regular on the Irish mountain running scene. On 27 August, Columbia Sportswear athlete Richard Nunan and his teammates, Thure Fuhrmann and Zoran Škrba, embarked on …

Karen Darke was a keen runner, climber and orienteer when she fell off a cliff and became paralysed from the chest down at age 21. However, this life-changing accident did not quell her passion for adventure. With the help of friends and in a large part thanks to her creativity and perseverance, Karen discovered that most things are still possible,…

Irish woman, Olive McGloin, became the first woman in the world to walk the Pacific Crest Trail, from the borders of Mexico to Canada and back again, non-stop in 2014. (It’s the same 2,650-mile route (one way) that Reese Witherspoon’s character walks some 1,000 miles of in the film Wild.) She encountered deadly snakes, mountain lions, severe storms…

In 2009, Kiko Matthews had a nearly fatal brain tumour, which resulted in Cushing's disease. She was treated at King's College Hospital, and had to undergo neurosurgery. In August 2017, she had another tumour, which occurred while she was training for the Atlantic crossing. On 22 March 2018, she became the fastest female to row the Atlantic, solo a…

John O'Regan has run marathons and ultra marathons in some of the world's toughest environments from Antartica to the Sahara. However, his involvement in running is not restricted to his own personal goals. Last year, John guided blind runner Sinead Kane in her bid to run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days and he has helped countless…

Ellie and Carl are walking along all the National Waymarked Trails of Ireland. There are 42 trails, with a combined distance of around 4,000km.The idea for this project was born while they were living in a tent in France a few years ago. The idea grew after they walked 1,100km through France and Spain along the Camino Del Norte - when they realised…

Paul Franklin has struggled through life with spinal problems ever since he was young. Recently he endured extensive spinal surgery. However, Paul will not let this hold him back from doing what he loves, cycling the world. Here Paul tells us about overcoming huge challenges in his life including the loss of two of his triplets, two broken marriage…

Four years ago, Gerard Prendergast (37) from Ballymun couldn’t swim. Last year he took on one of the world’s toughest endurance challenges – Deca UK. The event sees a small group of competitors attempt to complete 10 Ironman races in 10 days. Put mildly, it sounds brutal. But not so for Gerard who not only excelled in the event, topping the podium.…

Dave has a habit of doing things differently.As a record-breaking adventurer he is best known for Expedition1000, an ongoing mission to take on twenty-five different non-motorised journeys, each over 1000 miles in distance. He's completed fourteen, so far.In 2012 he founded SayYesMore, a life-fulfilling movement that helps nudge people towards find…

Joe Barr is the current Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA) World Champion in the 500–mile overall championship. He is the first Irish endurance cyclist to bring home a World Championship. It’s also the first time in Joe’s 45+ year multi-discipline cycling career that Joe has broken through to this level and all at the age of 58.And he shows …

In 2017, Mark Beaumont cycled around the world in just 78 days. Prior to that he broke the record for cycling Cairo to Cape Town and cycled the Americas. He also rowed further north than anybody has ever been before. Here Mark shares his incredible story from life as a young boy on a farm in the Scottish Highlands to becoming one of the world's mos…

Jason Black is just back from climbing the world's toughest mountain, K2. Bullied as a teenager, Jason also lost his mum aged 17. It was a very tough time in his life, but sport was his saviour. Since then, he has completed some of the world's toughest endurance challenges. But nothing quite compares to conquering K2. Here he shares his unbelievabl…

Extreme endurance adventurer Sean Conway is the first and only man in history to cycle, swim and run the length of Britain. He completed the record-breaking feat in 2015 when he ran from John O’Groats to Land’s End in just 44 days, having previously cycled and swum the route.His most recent achievement was the world record for cycling unsupported a…

Former professional rugby player, Damien Browne, talks about the hardship and isolation over the course of the nine weeks he spent at sea as he became one of the few to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.The journey saw the Irishman travel more than 4,000km without a support vessel and involved several complications, including capsizing twice in on…

At just 25 years old, Shane Finn has already run 12 marathons in 12 days and over the summer he doubled that to 24 marathons in 24 days. He has now totalled 47 marathons in his lifetime, three full Ironman races (soon to be four as he’s set to take on IM Lake Placid in America this summer) and so far has raised an incredible €190,000 for Spina Bifi…

Andrew Cotton surfs the biggest waves in the world. Waves that are sometimes the height of two to three storey houses. Last year he had what is deemed to be one of the worst wipeouts throughout the history of the sport. The video of the incident went viral overnight. We chat to Andrew about how he began surfing these mammoth waves and the rocky roa…

Stephen Redmond became the first person to swim the 7 Oceans which is deemed the ocean equivalent to the 7 Summits. Redmond was faced with severe sea sickness, vertigo, box jellyfish and sharks as he swam his way into the record books. He swam the English Channel between England and France in August 2009, followed by the North Channel between Scotl…

Nikki Bradley was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer (Ewing’s Sarcoma) at the age of 16. She received the news that she would remain on crutches permanently and, in the future, may face full right leg amputation. Since then, she has undertaken several incredible challenges to both raise awareness for the rare disease and highlight the import…

Moire O'Sullivan is one of Ireland's top mountain runners and adventure racers. She also happens to be a mum. Describing herself as not maternal at all, she took pregnancy and motherhood head on as she juggled her racing career with kids. Training right up until her due date and back on the bike just two weeks after giving birth, she tells us how s…

Eoin Keith is one of the Europe's top ultra runners. He holds numerous records and has won races like The Spine and the Northern Traverse. With a background in Pitch and Putt, Eoin only took up running at age 30. This year he took on the world's toughest endurance race, The Barkely Marathons. Here he tells us about his incredible journey, his train…