Mark Pollock | |
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Born | Ireland | 29 February 1976
Nationality | Irish |
Education | Royal Belfast Academical Institution University College Dublin Trinity College Dublin |
Occupation(s) | Motivational speaker, explorer, and author |
Parent(s) | Barbara and Johnny |
Awards | People of the Year Award UCD Alumnus of the Year in Business |
Medal record | ||
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Commonwealth Rowing Championships | ||
Representing Northern Ireland | ||
2002 Nottingham | Rowing | |
2002 Nottingham | Rowing |
Mark Pollock (born 29 February 1976) is an international motivational speaker, explorer, and author from Ireland[1][2] who became the first blind man to race to the South Pole. As part of a three-man team called South Pole Flag, alongside Simon O'Donnell and Inge Solheim he took 43 days in January 2009 to complete the Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race.[3] Pollock asserted his disability had slowed him down but they finished fifth overall from the six teams that finished the race.[4] He had participated against nine other teams, including that of BBC personality Ben Fogle and the Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell, a friend of Pollock.[1] An avid rower Pollock has won bronze and silver medals at the 2002 Commonwealth Rowing Championships in Nottingham, England and has also written a book titled Making It Happen. Around 2020, he was involved in the creation of Collaborative Cures.[5]
Setting his sights high
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Collaborative Cures was established in 2020 to scale Mark Pollock's work to bring people together to cure paralysis in our lifetime.