Saturday 3 April - ADVENTURE

Ed Stafford walked into the history books when he became the first man to walk the length of the Amazon River. His epic adventure took two and a half years and his success made headline news. His achievement is, as explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes put it: 'Truly extraordinary'.

Ed Stafford is passionate about encouraging others. He is honest and real about the challenges he faced: snakes, severe floods, electric eels, jaguars and the hostility of local tribes confronted with a tall foreign man in their midst. Ed's story has powerful lessons about seemingly impossible challenges, resilience, risk, working with others, respect for other cultures and the natural environment, and of course, motivation and staying positive when things are relentlessly tough. Ed’s style of delivery ensures that messages about success in the face of adversity, the determination to achieve targets and riding out tough times are delivered in a very entertaining way with a large dollop of self-deprecating humour.

Ed filmed and blogged about his expedition and engaged followers all over the world for two and a half years from the heart of the Amazon. His tale of true grit, bravery and determination to succeed against all odds has led to him being described by The Daily Mail as; 'Britain's most intrepid hero since Scott of the Antarctic,' and 'A true hero' by The Times.

Ed's footage was made into a Discovery Channel documentary and was sold to over 100 countries. His acclaimed book, Walking the Amazon has been translated into Mandarin, Ukranian, Polish and Spanish as well as being sold to the USA. In this book, Ed writes on completing his journey: ‘It was over. Nine million-odd steps; over 200,000 mosquito and ant bites; over 8,000 kilmometres walked over 860 days, 733 of them with Cho [Gadiel ‘Cho’ Sanchez Rivera], about 600 wasp stings; a dozen or so scorpion stings; 10 HD video cameras; six pairs of boots; three GPSs and one Guinness World Record.’

News that Ed had succeeded against all odds caught the imagination of the world’s press immediately: his story featured in over 900 articles and on news channels worldwide.

Ed Stafford was awarded European Adventurer of the Year 2011. The Guinness World Records has formally recognized Ed Stafford's achievement and Ed also received an award for outstanding bravery from Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Transglobe Expedition Trust.

Following his epic walk of the Amazon, new challenges and opportunities were to follow. Ed filmed himself surviving on an uninhabited island for 60 days – a tough project testing Ed in many and often unexpected ways. The resulting series ‘Naked and Marooned with Ed Stafford’ was shown globally on Discovery Channel during 2013 and Ed’s book about his experiences was published the following year. He continues to work on acclaimed television projects: Ed’s subsequent survival series ‘Marooned’ was shown worldwide on Discovery in 2014. In remote and extreme environments, Ed filmed himself alone for ten days learning to survive (and attempting to thrive) in different remote, extreme environments. His latest series with Discovery Channel is 'Into The Unknown' (2015). With photographs of Earth – taken by spy satellites and the International Space Station – showing strange and unexplained markings in some of the most remote and inaccessible places on the planet, Ed returns to his roots as an explorer as he explores extreme terrains to solve the riddle. From investigating gigantic white lines popping up on satellite images in remote West Papua, to a strange pattern of circular dots in the middle of the Danakil Desert, each astonishing image captures something hard to classify, previously unseen or anomalous. Ed continues to work on exciting TV projects in 2015.

Ed intends to use his adventures to inspire adults and kids alike to stretch their horizons and believe that they can do so much more.

We all have our Everest to climb; no matter if our goals are big or small, the path to achieving them is the same. From successful businessman to Seven Summits mountaineer, Hollis has had to master the intricacies of survival and success. With a wealth of life experience he will guide you on a journey through the mountains where planning, preparation, teamwork and frame of mind aren’t only important business components, but matters of life and death.

Following a lifelong dream of climbing Everest is no small feat, but Hollis explains how we can realise our dreams and goals in real terms with techniques he has used to run businesses and summit the highest peak on every continent. With the insights he’s gathered on his journey, he works enabling people to go beyond their perceived limits and take the first of many small steps.

Nick’s business background started with 15 years spent in senior management for Hewlett Packard and 3M handling multi-billion dollar revenues. He currently runs Fitways Adventures, a highly respected outdoor training and expedition company, leading expeditions as far away as Eastern Nepal and the Amazon Rainforest.

From the corporate world to the snowy mountain slopes Hollis has witnessed not only success, but also the great risk associated with the pursuit of ambitious goals. Summiting Everest he experienced snow blindness and failing oxygen systems in the death zone, and encountered the unfortunate deaths of inexperienced climbers. He explains how practicing detailed preparation and managing calculated risk are the reasons he is still here today.

As well as achieving the Seven Summits Hollis has completed the Ironman 2 times and hopes to row across the Atlantic. He also works training athletes to world standard and is a triathlon coach, qualified nutritionist, public speaker and a specialist personal trainer.

Despite his long list of achievements, Hollis explains that he is not an extraordinary person, but a person with extraordinary goals. So grab your jacket, strap on your boots and join Nick for a walk in the mountains. Embark on a journey of fear, determination, survival and reflection that will inspire you to set and achieve your own extraordinary goals.

Well howdy do – I’m Anna, a British born adventurer, motivational speaker, influencer and author. I was recently named by Condé Nast Traveller as one of the 50 most influential travellers of our time, and by the the Guardian as one of the top modern female adventurers . I am also proud to be the UK Ambassador for Girl Guiding, and the co-founder of Adventure Queens; the UK’s fastest growing women’s adventure community.

I’m best known for my recent attempt to run the distance of 100 marathons through Great Britain, in my bare feet.

I get my kicks by travelling the world on long, human powered journeys, and in sharing those journeys with others. When not running up mountains or sleeping in the wild, I encourage others to grab on to life (non-scientific term), and speak and write about the importance of adopting a growth mindset (scientific term), in everything we do. I believe that there’s more strength and magic in each of us than we will ever know – adventure is my personal way of unlocking that.