James Ketchell

James Ketchell’s Background

James is the first and only person to have rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, climbed to the summit of Mount Everest and cycled 18,000 miles around the world, all after suffering a serious accident that threatened his future. He uses all his activities to promote the charities he is involved with and is now writing a book about his adventures.

• Only person to complete the ‘super triathlon‘
• Overcame a serious motorcycle accident that left him with broken legs
• Believes you can achieve any goal by breaking it into small steps

James talks with honesty and enthusiasm about the incredible challenges he has taken on in his life. Audiences find him to be both an inspirational adventurer and an approachable person.

James is a survivor who has adversity to pursue a life of challenge and adventure. Several years ago he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident that left him with broken legs and a severely broken and dislocated ankle. He was told that he would suffer from a permanent walking impairment and would not be able to continue as before.

He talks with candour and enthusiasm about his response to that challenge, setting small achievable goals that allowed him to inch back towards health, pulling in support and making valuable contacts and friends as he went.

He talks about the places he has been and the extraordinary people he has met in particular the Sherpas who assisted him on Everest and one in particular who helped him off the mountain when he developed a severe lung infection during the descent.

Using his own experiences, demonstrates that we all have the potential to achieve difficult goals by breaking the task down into small steps – an approach that has huge relevance to the business world.

As he neared the summit of Everest, James learned that the last few hundred metres are completed just ten steps at a time an approach that lies at the heart of his success and has seen him through an unsupported global cycle covering over 18,000 miles in seven months.

In April 2015 he rowed 3,600 miles across the Indian Ocean with Scout leader and epilepsy sufferer Ashley Wilson to raise awareness of the condition.