Richard Parks is a renowned BAFTA Cymru nominated filmmaker, award-winning author, and multiple world record-holding Polar and Alpine Athlete. Having previously forged a respected career as an international rugby player in France, England, and Wales, Richard’s sporting journey was sadly cut short due to injury, but kickstarted his passion for mental health and climate advocacy not long after. An inspiration to audiences globally, Richard has become a world-renowned explorer and the first person to climb the highest mountain on each continent and stand on both the North and South Poles in the same calendar year. When looking to hire an inspirational adventurer to attend your future events, look no further than Richard today.
As one of the most successful adventurers in history, Richard has skied more solo, unsupported, and unassisted miles in Antarctica than anyone else in history. Keen to explore what the planet has to offer, he has successfully become the first person to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents and stand on the North and South Pole in the same calendar year. While raising hundreds of thousands for cancer charity, Marie Curie, during his expeditions, Richard completed the 737 Challenge in 6 months, 11 days, 07 hours, and 53 minutes to set a new world record. From pioneering medical research to remarkable applied student learning, Richard and his team have transformed society's understanding of the environment and are committed to evolving our relationship with the planet and performance.
Passionate to share his adventures with audiences globally, filmmaking and educating through storytelling have become a key aspect of Richards's career. His expeditions have been featured on Channel 5, Sky, Apple, and the BBC, whilst also allowing him to work with large-scale companies such as British Airways, Red Bull, and Discovery. As a leading authority in his field, Richard has also been selected to star in television documentaries such as ‘Can I be Welsh and Black?’ on ITV, ‘Extreme Wales Series 1’ on BBC2, and ‘Climbing Out of Lockdown’ on ITV Cymru. Respected for speaking professionally on a wide range of difficult topics throughout his career, Richard has become a must-see motivational keynote speaker.
An inspirational figure to audiences globally, Richard Parks is now highly sought-after to attend speaking engagements internationally. A man of many talents, he has released multiple books throughout his career, including his debut publication ‘Beyond the Horizon’, which won the Cross Sports Book of the Year award in 2015. In recognition of his illustrious career, Richard has been the recipient of numerous awards, including The Rhodri Morgan Award from the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame, and was selected as a Torchbearer of the London 2012 Olympics by public vote. When looking to hire a powerful speaker for all kinds of events, do not hesitate to hire Richard today.
Books
Beyond the Horizon: Extreme Adventures at the Edge of the World
How to hire Richard Parks
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Richard Parks for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Richard Parks' official speaking topics are listed below:
- Adventure & Exploration
- Black History Month
- Mental Health & Wellbeing
- Motivational & Inspirational
- Mental Resilience
- Rugby / Sports
- Online Motivational
- Peak Performance
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
Feedback from In-Person Events:
“Richard’s story is a perfect one to inspire the children to improve their all round standards of literacy. His visit to Casllwchwr Primary was a truly memorable and fantastic occasion. The positive impact he made on the children that he met and answered questions to is genuinely immeasurable and is another wonderful outcome from his brave decision to undertake the 737 Challenge in the first place. Stories such as Richard's provide a unique opportunity to engage children with literacy and improve their skills. Their project on Richard was an incredible academic success and one that all involved will never forget.” - David Brayley, School Governor & Education Consultant
"Richard has really become part of the family at Admiral. He has inspired staff across the organisation, whether speaking to thousands at our annual staff general meeting or to smaller groups as an ambassador for our Ministry of Health initiative. What you see is what you get with Richard, an approachable, passionate and infectiously positive person, and we are lucky to have him associated with Admiral." - Louisa Scadden, Head Of Communications, Admiral Group plc
"The challenging goals we have set require continued great leadership, flexibility and an enhanced sense of ownership across the company. We asked Richard to get involved because of the challenging goals he had to overcome to succeed. The video we produced with Richard inspired and engaged our team as the 737 Challenge had many synergies with our own vision and his passion and professionalism meant he worked closely with our team to deliver exactly what we needed." - Andy Street, Managing Director Of John Lewis
"Richard was a great choice of speaker for our event. He was incredibly engaging and very inspiring. Richard was able to relate the journey he has been on over the last 10 years to various aspects of the business world we operate in and it really hit the mark with a lot of our staff. All in all a perfect choice of speaker for our event. Thank you for putting us in touch with Richard!" - Nick, Energi People
