Ian McKeever (13 February 19702 January 2013) was an Irish

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, broadcaster, and motivational speaker. He once held the world record for the fastest completion of the

Seven Summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...

challenge, completing the Messner and Bass lists in a record 156 days. He was killed by a lightning strike on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Career

McKeever studied social sciences at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

(UCD). He was a traffic announcer on AA Roadwatch in Ireland for many years before becoming a mountaineer. He also worked in

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

. In his later years McKeever founded the Kilimanjaro Achievers Organisation, and through this led many expeditions to Mount Kilimanjaro for Irish secondary school students. He led an average of around 10 climbs per year, and maintained a 100% success rate regarding his groups reaching the summit.

Achievements

In 2004, McKeever set the Five Peaks Challenge world record, climbing and descending all five peaks in 16 hours 16 minutes. He climbed 26 peaks of the island of Ireland in 98 hours in 2006. McKeever broke the world record for the

Seven Summits Challenge The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits ...

in 2007, climbing the highest summit on each of the seven continents in 155 days, 32 less than the previous record. In 2008, he helped his 10-year-old godson Sean McSharry become the youngest person in Europe to reach the top of Kilimanjaro. McKeever was part of a team that attempted to row the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

in under 30 days in 2009. Members of this crew included

Leven Brown Leven Brown (born 14 August 1972) is a British Ocean Rower who has held five Guinness World Records. He along with his crew Don Lennox, Livar Nysted and Ray Carroll also held the world record for "longest distance rowed in 24h in an ocean rowing ...

Livar Nysted Livar Nysted (born 27 September 1970) is an ocean rower and an artist, a painter. He grew up in the small village of Hvannasund in the Faroe Islands. Nysted has achieved five world records in ocean rowing. In 2010 he – together with three othe ...

, and

Breffny Morgan Breffny Morgan is an Irish socialite and television personality, known for his appearances on reality shows such as ''The Apprentice'', ''Celebrity Salon'' and ''Celebrity Bainisteoir''. He was born in Cork, and moved to America to study and ro ...

. After 11 days at sea, and 1003 miles covered, the boat lost its rudder and they were forced to postpone the attempt. When McKeever turned 40 in 2009, he set himself the challenge of beating

Eamonn Coghlan Eamonn Christopher Coghlan (born 21 November 1952) is an Irish former track and field athlete who specialised in middle distance track events and the 5,000 metres. He is a three-time Olympian and former world champion in the 5,000 m. He ser ...

's four-minute mile for a person over 40. His mile dropped from 7 minutes to 4 minutes 20 seconds in 22 months of training. McKeever set a new record for the most climbs of Croagh Patrick in 2011, when he made 35 summits in 80 climbing hours.

Death

Commemorating plaque for Ian McKeever on Mount Kilimanjaro

On 2 January 2013 McKeever was struck by lightning and died while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He was on the third day of the climb and had experienced torrential rain for the duration. The group was due to pass the mountain's famous Lava Tower on that day. During the lightning strike his fiancée was injured, although not seriously. McKeever's family confirmed his death with a late night Facebook posting. Climbing experts described the nature of his death as extremely rare. McKeever updated his website regularly during his final expedition, with his last posting, stating:

Publications

* ''Give Me Shelter'' (2007), Folens Publishers (Ireland) * ''Give Me Irish Heroes'' (2009), Ian McKeever * ''Give Me 28 Days'', unfinished due to death

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKeever, Ian 1970 births 2013 deaths Accidental deaths in Tanzania Alumni of University College Dublin Deaths from lightning strikes Irish motivational speakers Irish mountain climbers Irish public relations people Summiters of the Seven Summits