Chris is a former British Army Officer with three years operational experience. His training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and experiences as an Army officer provided a world-class grounding in leadership, motivation and personal and team development. He left to work for a charity clearing landmines in Asia & Africa. He survived being taken prisoner in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge (one of the most brutal terror groups in history) and negotiated his release and that of two colleagues from threatened execution.

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In 1995 he was blown up in a supposedly safe area of a minefield in remote East Africa losing an arm and a leg. He survived initially because he treated himself. About fourteen hours after injury he arrived in South Africa where doctors said they’d never seen anyone live with such a small amount of blood. He recovered three or four times faster than was expected, was out of hospital in less than two months and within a year of leaving hospital ran the London Marathon, raised significant sums to help disabled people in the developing world, worked to ban landmines and successfully completed a full time Masters Degree.

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Challenging the concept of limitation

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Chris taught himself to run again and is the world’s first amputee ultra-distance runner. In 1997 he completed the gruelling Marathon De Sables and inspired many to follow in his footsteps. Since then he’s run the world’s toughest ultra- marathons, including the Badwater Death Valley 135 mile ultra and the 95 mile West Highland Way Race. He’s run numerous ultra-distance events and several one thousand mile events. When it comes to challenging the concept of limitation, adapting to change and overcoming adversity he literally walks the talk. Chris is a veteran adviser to the NHS on state-of-the-art prosthetics and has been involved with many charities in roles including President, Trustee and fundraiser. Chris was awarded an MBE for his work in demining and in recognition of his humanitarian work, he was given the honour of carrying the Olympic Flame into the stadium at the opening ceremony of the Nagano Winter Olympics. His achievements have been featured in the media, with coverage on TV, radio & in national newspapers and magazine articles.

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Humour, passion and inspiration

As a keynote and after-dinner speaker Chris delivers humour, passion and inspiration. Topics include change, motivation, risk and safety, communication, improving sales and personal and strategic leadership. He runs short workshops to improve individual and team performance & coaches and mentors a wide variety of executives.

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Recent examples of headline keynote speeches Chris has delivered:

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‘Making the Best of Life in Challenging Times’

In this uplifting and humorous presentation for our time will share learnings from unique experiences surviving as a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and being blown up whilst clearing landmines for a charity in Mozambique. In spite of losing his lower arm and leg he did a marathon less than a year after leaving hospital and became the world’s first amputee ultra-distance runner when he completed the Marathon Des Sables, subsequently he’s completed many of the world’s toughest ultra-marathons. He’s studied human behaviour and worked with psychologists and psychiatrists to develop strategies for resilience and making the best of life.

 

Health Safety and Wellness

For more than 20 years Chris has been involved in leading high-risk operations and delivering health and safety presentations and workshops about real life experiences to change behaviours. He provides a fresh invigorating perspective on health and safety and wellness creating engagement.

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The Inconvenient Truth About Change:

‘Adapt or Face Extinction’

 

Despite the challenging title of this presentation Chris reassures people about dealing with change, empowers and equips them to adapt and deal with any new reality.

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‘Step Beyond’

Chris shares experiences on the balance of life and death and limit of human endurance to illustrate principles everyone can use in their daily lives to help them step beyond limits and do what they do better. This presentation delivers feel, know and do outcomes.