He Guided a Blind Runner Through Everest. Then Everything Went Wrong - John O'Regan

The Irishman Who Ran Marathons at the North Pole, Antarctica and the Sahara: John O’Regan’s Extraordinary Life | Made in Chaos EP044 Ryan Curtis sits down with John O’Regan, one of Ireland’s most accomplished endurance athletes. From growing up in the Dublin flats with a fishing rod made from a tree branch, John went on to race in the most extreme environments on earth, the North Pole, Antarctica, the Sahara, the Yukon and Everest Base Camp, and to guide a blind runner through many of them. This is a genuinely inspiring conversation about survival, endurance and the mindset that takes you to the ends of the earth. What we cover: Growing up in the flats, fishing with a tree branch, and the escape the outdoors gave him Writing a letter to survival legend Ray Mears in 1988, and travelling over to train with him Why the most important thing you can carry anywhere is knowledge, not equipment The Dunning-Kruger moment of arriving thinking he knew it all, and being humbled Running the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara, and why the finish was an anti-climax The North Pole Marathon, one of the most inhospitable races on the planet Lending his spare snowshoes to explorer Ranulph Fiennes at the North Pole Racing across the Yukon, Antarctica, and a marathon up the Empire State Building Years spent guiding Mark, a blind runner, through deserts, ice and the Himalayas The hardest thing he has ever done: the brutal race into Everest Base Camp The accident in the desert, the first-aid kit lesson, and why “passing the test” isn’t enough What 24-hour races teach you about rationing energy, and the mental game of endurance The beginner’s mindset, and why how you do anything is how you do everything Why there is no finish line, and why we only get old when we stop doing things Ryan Curtis is a former Irish MMA fighter who was paralysed from the neck down following a training accident. Told he would never walk again, he defied medical odds through sheer determination and rebuilt his life from the ground up. Made in Chaos exists to platform guests who have faced real adversity and come out with hard-earned wisdom worth sharing. Follow John: @johnoregan777 Follow Ryan: @chaoscurtis Follow the Podcast: @madeinchaospod Subscribe for weekly episodes Sponsored by The Ink Factory, Ireland’s highest rated tattoo studio. theinkfactory.ie | @theinkfactory