Having spent most of his youth running around the Irish mountains, Tim joined the Royal Marines as a 2nd Lieutenant in 2001. After passing out of training, he did his first tour in Iraq in the intense heat of the desert, followed by winter exercises in Norway where he first experienced sub -40 deg C. Through Royal Marines training and these experiences, Tim learnt to love the simplicity of life at the extremes. When no question matters but how to stay fit to survive, everything becomes a lot less complicated.
Tim left the Royal Marine Corps at the end of 2006, shortly after winning Polar Challenge 2006 with Mike. He has since found himself doing web project management with a couple of companies, most latterly Radley Yeldar Ltd. While his job hasn't satisfied his thirst for adventure, it has taught him a lot... such as how to build this site!
During his 3 years in London studying firstly Mathematics and Computer Science, and then War Studies at Imperial and King's Colleges respectively, Tim was a keen member of the OTC, which is where he first met Mike. Tim was a Territorial Army Physical Training Instructor (PTI), and as Tim thrashed Mike over the assault courses, their friendship grew.
After successfully completing his Commando training, Tim was posted to Commando Logistics Regiment with whom he completed the first operation of the latest Gulf conflict in Iraq in early 2003. He was then sent on a military novice ski course where he was first exposed to survival in an arctic environment.
Through postings to 42 Commando and 45 Commando where he held positions as 2ic of a company marines, he gained further experience of harsh environments and how to maintain operational effectiveness in such conditions. He also gained in his experience as a project manager, before consilidating this during his final posting with the Royal Marines to Fleet Headquarters by completing a Prince 2 practitioner course.
Tim was the training manager for Mike's team in the 2006 Polar Challenge, a competitive race to the 1996 location of the Magnetic North Pole.
The team won the race covering the 350 nautical miles to the Pole in 11 days and 15 hours to finish 15 hours ahead of the next team raising £12,000 for the Laura Crane Trust to continue the charities work.
You can see a video of Tim expertly demonstrating ice breaking drills whilst speaking in tongues by clicking here.
Tim has been an orienteer for most of his life, having first been pushed into it by his Mother at the age of five, competing for Ireland until he went to University in London. Despite all this however, his first OMM beat him, and he was forced to retire on the second day from a knee injury.
Having been defeated the previous year Tim was determined to complete the race in 2008. Unfortunately, the 41st OMM experienced some of the worst weather conditions in its history, and after completing the first day, the race was called off. It seems it'll have to wait till 2009 for Tim to complete the race!
