Ambassadors

Deon Barrett joined the British Army in May 2015, serving for 8 years, before launching the True North Project. As part of the project, Deon has set out to become one of the few black men to have navigated across the North Pole by 2024, followed by also being one of the few Black men to have summitted Mount Everest by 2025. Deon also runs a young people initiative working to provide inspirational speaking engagements at schools, in order to encourage youth to spend time outdoors, so that they will “find their true north” and connect with nature once again.

Veteran, Athlete, Explorer and Keynote Speaker Ben Gallagher suffered life changing injuries in 2019 whilst serving in the British Army. He was involved in an incident whilst on active duty where he was shot numerous times and received blast/fragmentation injuries to his upper torso and both arms, without a doubt his body armour saved his life.

In 2021 Ben and a team of injured veterans set off from Sennen Cove in Cornwall on 19th June 2021 and paddled the iconic British challenge of Land’s End to John O’ Groats by kayak, an incredibly testing journey of 1,400km. They planned to achieve their goal in under 35 days and arrived in John O’ Groats just 26 days after setting off and incredibly having paddled for 21 days on the water.

In March/April 2022, Ben completed the 36th Marathon des Sables, covering 145.25 miles in 38hrs 48mins 54secs ranking 271 out of 1023 registered competitors.

Ben was successfully selected to represent United Kingdom at the 2023 Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, Germany. Ben competed in cycling and indoor rowing two sports he is passionate about. He finished with a gold medal in the Men’s IR6 4 minute endurance row and bronze medal in the Men’s IRB3 criterium cycle race. Ben also finished 12th out of almost 100 competitors in the Men’s IR6 1 minute sprint row and 5th in the Men’s IRB3 time trail cycle.

He is on the GB Para-Rowing pathway and hopes to soon qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

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