Meet Johnny Ward, the first person to climb the seven summits, reach the Poles, and visit every country in the world, writes Poonam Binayak Amidst the relentless cold of the South Pole in early 2024, Irish travel blogger Johnny Ward marked a momentous occasion as he gazed over the endless ice. He had just completed the ultimate Adventurer’s Grand Slam, a daring quest that took him to the highest peaks on each continent and to both the North and South Poles. The journey to his monumental achievement was anything but easy.
“I trained hard six times a week for years, ran countless brutal ultramarathons and cycled across countries,” Ward tells the Herald . He further adds, “Funding it was tough. Even once you have the money gathered, pressing ‘send’ on the wire transfer for life-changing sums filled me with remorse and guilt.
It is not easy, but I reminded myself that dreams do not come without sacrifice, so I pressed send.” Back in 2017, Ward made history as the first Irish person to visit every country in the world. Now, he has set a new record as the first person in the world to accomplish both feats.
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