Mike Stroud is best known for his record-breaking undertakings with Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He first teamed up with Sir Ranulph between 1986 and 1990 with several attempts to make an unsupported journey on foot to the North Pole from Arctic Canada and Siberia. These included a record breaking journey in 1990 which raised more than million for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Following this, they switched their attention to Antarctica and the South Pole where in 1992/93 they succeeded in breaking several world records including the first unaided walk across Antarctica from coast to coast and the longest unsupported walk in history.
During the Trans-Antarctic trek, the two men covered more than 1400 miles without help from other men, animals or machines, dragging their supplies and equipment. In temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees C with winds which could exceed 100 miles per hour, they crossed frozen ice-shelves, climbed to the Polar plateau and descended one of the largest glaciers in the world.
On his return Mike was awarded the OBE for Human Endeavour and Services to Charity and the Polar Medal. The journey raised a further 2 million pounds for the MS Society.
Since that last Polar journey, Mike has continued his interest in extremes, leading the first UK team in the 1994 Marathon of the Sands – a Trans-Sahara multi-marathon. He then undertook the 1995 and 96 ultra-distance Eco-Challenge adventure races in which Teams use skills such as climbing, canoeing, horse-riding, rafting and mountain biking to race non-stop across hundreds of miles of back country. In the 1996 event, held in the mountains of Western Canada, his team ‘Fit For Life’ included not only Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Rebecca Stephens MBE, but Mike’s 72 year old father Vic. In April 2002, Mike completed the first unsupported, non-stop run across the Qatar desert, covering 200 km in just 3 days. Most recently, in November 2003, he and Sir Ranulph completed 7 marathons, in 7 days, on 7 different continents.