BS: Describe yourself in 5 words.

That big chap from Peterborough

BS: What sport/discipline do you do?

That’s quite difficult to answer. At the moment I’m concentrating on swimming. That said the main sport in my life is rugby and the thing that I’ve done the most is cycling! I still think the skills and strengths I got from rugby help me out immensely with what I do these days. The discipline to train no matter what the weather conditions, the ability to get knocked down and get back up again, the strength to endure all come from my base as a rugby player. Cycling has really worked my lungs and recovery rate up to pretty decent levels too and these combined have helped with both the physical and mental side of cold water swimming.

BS: How would others describe you?

That depends who you ask. You’d probably get answers ranging from “He’s that big chap from Peterborough” all the way through to “He’s going to be shark bait”; hopefully with a few saying nice things inbetween!

BS: You’re planning and training for the ‘Global Triathlon’. What’s involved and will there be any way we can track your progress in real time?

The Global Triathlon is a triathlon around the world involving a 3600mile swim across the Atlantic, a 9000mile bike ride across Europe and Asia and a 5500mile run across North America. I’m due off in May 2012 and there’ll be heaps of ways of keeping up to date and in the loop including live GPS trackers, Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, videos on YouTube and photos on flickr all of which will be accessible from my website.

BS: That swim sounds intense. What are the main risks?

The swim will mentally be the most challenging leg of the trip. The main dangers aren’t the big ‘Hollywood’ dangers that you think like sharks and tsunamis. By far the biggest danger to me will be the cold, the temperature will start off around 8-10Celcius and at it’s highest will only be 17-18 degrees Celcius. After the cold I’d say the main other dangers are boredom, jellyfish (there aren’t any deadly ones on my route but a big enough sting/number of stings could cause real problems on my weakened body) and chronic fatigue.

BS: You have your own charity, the Dan Martin Foundation, where did that idea originate and how can people donate?

The Dan Martin Foundation simply allows me to allocate money to charities I know and believe in. On this next trip we’ll be supporting WildHearts, a micro finance charity that works in west Africa and two orphanages in Kenya and Nepal. As soon as the trip kicks off then we’ll launch the big push to raise funds for these phenomenal charities and there’ll be several ways of donating both on and off line.

BS: How did you first get into doing extreme challenges?

By accident. Well that’s not strictly true! I did Duke of Edinburgh at school and that got me interested in expeditions but it was my older brother who got me into the more physical challenges. We’re quite competitive so when he ran the London Marathon aged 18 I knew the next year I’d have to do the same. I knew I couldn’t beat his time so I did it two years in a row. Whilst at university he cycled from John O’Groats to Lands End so the next year I followed suit (and beat him by three days).

While doing all this I was playing pretty high level rugby and ended up playing out in Toulouse where I blew my knee out for the third time (medial and cruciate ligaments) – I’d always been pretty injury prone but this was the most serious blow I’d had. I did physio for 8months but after four months I plateaued and nothing seemed to make it better. My physio out there suggested some longer bike rides from Toulouse to Paris or to Barcelona so I decided to cycle from London to Cape Town via the Middle East and to climb Mt Blanc and Kilimanjaro on the way. At the end of that my knee was pretty strong but I’d crashed and ruined my shoulder so I was broke and couldn’t play rugby. I went over to Korea in search of adventure and to teach English to earn some money. The money came easy but the adventure wasn’t there so within a few weeks of arriving I began planning my next trip from Korea to Cape Town via the Axis of Evil (North Korea, Iraq and Iran) and through the Middle East again and down the west coast of Africa.

During both the bike rides I got the idea in my head of doing a round the world cycle but which ever way I looked at the map there was always a big stretch of ocean. Originally I planned to row the ocean and cycle the rest but then I heard about Ben Lecomte swimming the Atlantic-there had been some questions about his trip (he wore a wetsuit, used flippers and a monofin and his boat drifted with the current at night) so I decided I’d try and do the same route but with slightly stricter rules-no wetsuit, no flippers, no monofin, no drifting at night-just me in my trunks swimming the Atlantic in daily stages. After deciding that changing North America from a cycle to a run seemed like common sense and that’s how I got to where I am today.

BS: Your website has a huge amount of content. I particularly like the Where I’d Rather Be On Monday series.

Thanks, I really have a thirst for adventurous stories and love sharing them on the site.

BS: If you could recommend any adventuring-types to keep an eye out for,who would they be?

I’ve been talking alot to a few good adventurey mates of mine and we all agree that the world of adventures is far too murky and over saturated. My personal view point is that any true adventure shouldn’t involve the words guided, last degree/last two degrees or supplimental oxygen. Adventures are all about heading off into the wild and facing challenges and dangers. They’re not about TV shows and back up vans. They’re not about being the youngest/oldest/first Briton. It’s about pitching you and your skills against nature and hoping you come out with a draw! I know we have the technology to make every step of our planet safe and insured but that’s not the point.

For some real adventures keep an eye on:

• Bourge Ousland (@borgeousland)
• Mike Horn (@PangaeaMikeHorn)
• Mark Kalch (@MarkKalch)
• Ed Stafford (@Ed_Stafford)
• Leo Houlding (@LeoHoulding)
• Ben Saunders (@polarben)
• Alex Hibbert (@AlexHibbert)
• Pete Gostelow (@PeteGost)
• And for some incredible microadventures have a look at Al Humphreys (@Al_Humphreys).

BS: Last question, and one we ourselves get asked by a lot of folk, why do you do it; why adventure?

There’s a certain element of ‘if you have to ask, then you’ll never understand’ but I rationalise it down to two things. One, beacuase I want to and two; because I can.