Dr Mike Stroud OBE –  Biography

Mike Stroud qualified as a doctor in 1979 but over his first 10 years in hospital practice spent log periods travelling around the world on expeditions. He then left mainstream medicine to spend 6 years undertaking research on human performance whilst continuing his expeditionary endeavours including in 1992/93, making the first unsupported crossing of Antarctica on foot with Sir Ranulph Fiennes. This raised more than £2 million for good causes and led to the award of both the OBE for “Human Endeavour & Services to Charity’ and the Polar Medal for ‘Services to Polar exploration”.

In 1995 Mike returned to working in hospitals and later took on his current position as a Senior Lecturer and Consultant Physician in Southampton. Nevertheless he has continued to travel extensively and to take part in a variety of ultra-distance endurance events including the Marathon of the Sands, 2 Eco-Challenge Adventure Races and an unsupported 200 km run across the Qatar desert. Most recently, he and Sir Ranulph ran 7 marathons, on 7 Continents in 7 days, raising money for the British heart Foundation.

As well as his own feats of endurance, Mike has become well-known for his TV commentaries on others putting themselves through stressful situations. He featured in all three BBC series of ‘SAS – Are you tough enough?’ set in Scotland, Borneo and the Namib Desert and recently presented the 8 part BBC series ‘The Challenge’.  He has written two books ‘Shadows on the Wasteland – crossing Antarctica with Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ and ‘Survival of the Fittest - understanding health and optimal human performance’.