OLLY HICKS - Endurance Athlete
Olly Hicks is a World Record holding ocean rower: the first and youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean from the US to the UK. To date, his expeditions total over 24,000 miles across land and sea. Aged 23-years-old, Olly completed his first record-breaking adventure, rowing 4,000 miles, single-handed, west-to-east across the Atlantic. Following 124 days alone at sea, encountering a great white shark, battling the elements; having been capsized twice by Atlantic storms, and escaping physical and mental illness, on 28 Sept 2005 Olly landed in the Scilly Isles where he was greeted by HRH Prince William and Sir Richard Branson. It was a remarkable achievement for a young man who had never rowed before, but it hadn't quenched his thirst for adventure.
Olly's next mission was to row single-handed around the world - a trip of 18k miles that would take 20 months. Unfortunately, it was to be Olly's first taste of failure and after 96-days, he was forced to abandon the voyage due to problems with his boat.
Not to be beaten, he is currently planning his next attempt, which he will begin in 2018, spend the whole of 2019 at sea, and return in 2020. Since his last attempt he has completed the Fastnet Yacht race, cycled non-stop from London to Paris, and
completed a 9 week, 1,500 miles voyage from Greenland to Scotland by sea kayak to prove that the same journey may have been made by Inuits in the 17th Century.
Olly is witty and understated, he gives a fascinating insight into what drives him to achieve his goals and the lessons he has learnt along the way – lessons about project management, team work and the importance of being good at maths. How Olly deals with fear and loneliness, success and failure will resonate with audiences from all walks of life. His message is one of individual empowerment; we are all ordinary until we do something extraordinary.
“A thoroughly engaging and amusing speaker, whose dry, self-deprecating delivery belies the courage required for his incredible quests. Highly recommend.”
“Olly has done extraordinary things in pushing the boundaries of both physical and mental endurance. His inspiration for others, whether involved in sport, adventure or business, is that he speaks about his achievements in such a beguiling and understated way, you are left truly believing that you can do it too - that you can excel in your chosen field. This is a powerful and empowering message.”
“Hard to work out how it could have been better”
