Hard As Nails By Outsider.ie

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 adventure.

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-stop. Fast forward ten years and Brian has shown no sign of slowing down. He recently completed a 10km swim across Dublin Bay. So far, Brian has raised a whopping €70,000 for Speical Olympics. Here he tells us how he went from zero to hero and what drives him to take on these long endurance challenges.

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 from his teenage years to competing at the Ironman World Championships at Kona and offers some valuable advice along the way.

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 years to prepare for their voyage. Here they tell us all about their epic adventure.

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 one of the toughest foot races in Europe. The Petite Trotte à Léon, or the PTL, as it is more commonly known, is an epic 300km running race around Mont Blanc that takes on a whopping 28,000 metres of climbing. Teams of two or three have to complete the course – which is entirely self-navigated – in under 151 hours, hitting strict cut-off times along the way. Only 300 people take part in this race every year, all of whom have serious mountaineering credentials. Sleep deprivation, changing weather conditions, near impossible navigation and gruelling terrain all add to the challenge. Richard tells us all about this epic race and how he juggles his passion for compe

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, and has since led an extraordinary life. Karen has taken on some epic adventures that include climbing El Capitan in Yosemite, handbiking in the Himalayas and a ski traverse of Greenland. In addition to all of that Karen is also a full-time athlete with the British Para-Cycling Team. She was a silver-medallist in the London 2012 Paralympics and became Paralympic Champion in the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Here she tells her incredible story.

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 and extreme heat on her journey. And she didn't stop there. Since her successful YoYo of the PCT, Olive has taken on a number of equally impressive challenges.

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 and unsupported. Here she tells her incredible story of illness, adventure and of the time she forced Boris Becker to feel her guns!

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 others to achieve their goals too.

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 that they could have just as amazing adventures in Ireland!

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 marriages and multiple surgeries.

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. This year Gerard has taken his exploits one step further as he has committed to completing an Ironman every week for 52 weeks. Here he chats to Kevin about what motivates him and why he has decided to dedicate himself to such endurance events.

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 finding out what they're truly capable of. And in 2015 SayYesMore sprouted the YesTribe, an outdoors-loving community of doers with thousands of members globally. Dave travels, speaks, writes, presents and films for a living. His ever-evolving story-based keynote speech is a motivating and inspirational kick up the backside for anyone who ever wondered whether they were capable of doing more.

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 no sign of slowing down any time soon. Joe is about to take on the mighty Race Around Ireland. Here he tells us what drives him, how he pushes through the pain, and why at 58 years of age he has no intention of retiring any time soon.

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 most accomplished endurance athletes.

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 unbelievable story which is guaranteed to leave you with goosebumps.

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 across Europe. He completed the 4000 miles route in 24 days, 18 hours and 39 minutes.  Here Sean tells his incredible story of how he went from a corporate photographer to a professional adventurer. And it wasn't all smooth sailing...

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 one day, suffering bloody facial injuries during high seas, and a near-miss with a cargo ship. YIKES!

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 Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland. All the while co-owning and running his own gym in Dingle called WK Fitness.

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 road to recovery after breaking his back.