CORK'S GREAT ADVENTURE

Pat Falvey and Dr. Clare O'Leary

There is no mountain high enough for Pat Falvey and his recent Beyond Endurance Expedition speaks volumes of his determination and persistence. Miriam Murphy speaks to the great explorer and
Dr Clare O’Leary and discovers that life begins when you are ready to live it

Known as Ireland’s real capital and for all the right reasons, Cork is a productive hub transgressing all business sectors. Whether you are just beginning or reflectively looking at your life’s work; take heed, there is much more still to be learned. This was the lasting key impression I took with me from my unforgettable meeting with the inspirational Corkonians, Pat Falvey and Dr Clare O Leary.

LEADER

Pat Falvey adjusts the intrinsic meaning of the language through which all entrepreneurs converse; ideas, will, methods, plans, and most importantly – goals. Through his own personal life experiences and intimate study of anthropology, Falvey is an exceptional team leader, mentor, motivational speaker, author and celebrated worldwide adventurer and explorer.

“I left school to become a millionaire. I achieved this at 21. I was broke and suicidal at 29. I had lost his focus.” He was personally challenged to regroup. On the same week he was due in the High Court he went hill walking with his friend Val Dean. “That day on Corrán Tuathail, my life changed forever. There and then I made up my mind to conquer Mount Everest.” He achieved his goal at the age of 35 and now firmly believes that focus is the end objective and then all you have to do is start it. Falvey can teach us all a thing or twenty.

EXPEDITIONS CONQUERED

To date he has completed almost 70 expeditions exploring altitudes and conquering endurance. He became the first Irish man to climb the highest peaks on each of the seven continents not once, but twice and now holds the record for the only man on earth to have done so. He has climbed Mount Everest from both sides and most recently completed the challenge of reaching the South Pole and bear in mind this is just the tip of the ice-berg. There are many strings to this man’s bow that you can read about in his books, his latest work being made up of some stories that he thought he would never tell ‘The Journey to Adventure’.

The recent ten week expedition to the South Pole, led by 50 year old Falvey, included Dr. Clare O’Leary who has become the first Irish woman ever to reach the South Pole.

THE SOUTH POLE

Dr Clare O’Leary’s adventure began in College. She began hill walking with some friends about nine years ago and continued on by completing climbing courses in Scotland and the UK. At this stage O’Leary was put in contact with Pat Falvey’s mountaineering school. It would be easy at this juncture to say ‘and the rest is history’ but both O’Leary and Falvey will go on making history.

She told me that her toughest challenge to date was the team’s journey to the South Pole which included Falvey, Shaun Menzies, Jonathon Bradshaw, Niall Foley and Freddy T Bear.

58 days on the ice, minus 20 degrees on an average day, bad weather conditions and all the while pulling 90kgs sleds! “When I hit the same wall that the entire team hit more that once I told myself ‘just one more hour’.” She also pushed through by drawing on inspiration from her skis that had been decorated by the primary school in Cloughroe, Co Cork that stated ‘Go Clare’. This reminded her of how many hundreds of children were following her journey and that of Freddy the bear. The same children greeted her at the airport waving flags of Freddy the bear on her arrival home.

UNIQUE VISION

Following Falvey’s own stories and understanding his striking and unique vision he touches a harmonious chord that is in all of us, be it the desire to explore the world, understand the need for preservation of indigenous people and their culture, or the call to push ourselves to make a difference in the way we intend to start and run our businesses, balancing our private lives and cheque books. We need more Pat Falveys encouraging us to be passionate about leading a meaningful and fulfilling life. There are people that talk the talk and people who walk the talk - these people are credible.

NEW CHALLENGES

Falvey has a number of things coming up this year, including pioneering the ‘Grey Hairs’ leading everyday people over the age of 50 to challenge themselves, leading trips to the South Pole for anyone who is interested in conservation and wiping out their own carbon foot print.

He has been invited to speak for companies such as Motorolla and Musgrave and it’s no wonder he has. Entrepreneurs and intreprenures alike know the priceless benefit of what he has to say through pure conviction and successes on serious playing fields.

Author: Miriam Murphy, Founder, Baroque Event Management

There’s a race of men that don’t fit in, a race that can’t stay still; so they break the hearts of kith and kin, and they roam the world at will. They range the field and they rove the flood, and they climb the mountain’s crest; theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood, and they don’t know how to rest. Robert Servis

Published in the February/March 2008 Issue of Irish Entrepreneur