Karen Darke

Karen Darke was a keen runner, climber and all round outdoor addict who climbed Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn by the age of 21. Then on a climbing expedition in Scotland in 1992 Karen fell off a cliff, severing her spinal chord paralysing her from the chest down.

Just the night before her accident she said she would rather die than be paralysed, but little did she know what lay ahead. Instead she found fortune in her misfortune, inspiration from people in similar and more challenging situations, and began pursuing alternative ways to access the outdoors.

Not being able to move or feel anything below her chest level has of course been a challenge, but Karen learned that nothing is impossible if you set your mind and efforts to it.

Since her accident Karen Darke has had to challenge her own physical and mental barriers, completing many incredible feats that others including herself believed impossible; from marathons, triathlons, kayaking, sit-skiing and hand-cycling, in some of the most inhospitable places on the planet.

In 1997 Karen hand-biked over the Himalaya, a 1400 km journey from Kyrgyzstan to Pakistan. Three years later she hand-biked the 2000km length of Japan, with 80% being mountainous. In 2003 Karen kayaked the “Inside Passage” to Alaska and in 2006 she sit-skied 600km across Greenland to become the first person in a wheel chair to complete this journey.

Following so many inspirational achievements Karen decided whilst watching the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games that her next challenge would be to compete at the London 2012 Games. She immediately turned her focus to racing a hand-bike and although she was initially shunned by British Cycling they soon realised the error of their ways and after some impressive performances the GB Coaches invited her to join the GB Para-Cycling Team in December 2010.

In September 2011 Karen achieved a bronze medal in the Para-cycling World Championships in Denmark, securing her place at the London 2012 Paralympic Games - where she went on to win Silver in the women's H1-2 cycling time trial.

Karen went on to win Paralymic gold in hand-cycling at Rio 2016.

She is a Guinness World Record holder for landspeed by armpower, has skied across icecaps, kayaked at extreme latitudes of the planet, and hand-cycled across the world’s biggest mountain ranges and alongside some of the longest rivers.

These experiences combined with unique studies of mind, resilience and performance have led to helping people view life as an adventure, and to embrace all its’ experiences as opportunities to learn and grow. Karen has extensively studied what goes on ‘inside’: the power of the mind and language to positively impact emotions; improving presence, performance and well being.

Karen Darke is an experienced and accomplished inspirational and motivational speaker who has inspired audiences in organisations and businesses around the globe. Her story is inspiring and energising. Modest and thoughtful, Karen is highly sought-after and her stories inspire everyone who reflects on what it took to achieve them.

Speech themes and topics
“The thing my disability and ensuing adventures makes me most obviously qualified to talk about is ‘overcoming challenge' but my experiences also allow me to talk about motivation, change, achievement, teams work, leadership, diversity and inclusivity, risk....

How do we overcome challenges?
Why is it that some of us are fortunate enough to fall down, pick ourselves up, brush off the dust and go again, whilst others let it stop them?

Through my personal experiences, adventures and some ongoing research with others who have tackled great challenge, I enjoy sharing some understanding as to how we can learn from the difficult stuff, and use it to do the positive stuff. How we turn things around, no matter how difficult or seemingly impossible they may seem.

If we can know ourselves better, we can explore our abilities, and achieve all manner of things we may previously have thought impossible.“

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Clients often ask about purchasing books for giveaways and delegate packs. Below you’ll find a selection of products by Karen Darke. Click the images to view on Amazon's website. For bulk orders, please speak with your Booking Agent.