The Founder
Jesse Kirley
Expedition Leader, The Fire
I was born in an old 1950s school bus and for the next 5 years my free-spirited parents and I explored around Australia without much plan other than following our instincts and curiosity to see what adventure might be further down the road. Eventually my folks thought i should go to school and we'd out grown the bus and we settled in a remote farm in the Australian bush. After not taking school academics very seriously with the exception of sport and athletics, i then went on to study a degree in 'Outdoor Education' at Latrobe University, a degree that would give me all the tools and qualifications to pursue a career leading groups on Adventure tourism journeys. Even though my passion was these types of activities in the remote Australian bush and Alps, like most 20 year olds i didn't know what i really wanted. So I dropped out of Uni early and joined the Army and became an elite Paratrooper in 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment. Soon after getting my Paratrooper wings our Battalion was deployed to East Timor, a conflict zone where we were to restore order, defeat the enemy militia and start to rebuild this new nation. I was lucky enough to deploy for 3 tours to Timor Leste for 6-9 months each tour, this was just the adventure i'd been seeking and the experience helped shape the man i am today. The skills and qualifications I received such as becoming a Battlefield Combat Medic, working in an ambulance with the Sydney Paramedics assisting in dealing with accidents and trauma call outs they received, bush craft survival skills, remote navigation, emergency response training and much more are still invaluable tools i keep in my bag.
The Back Story
Background & history
My fascination with pushing my physical and mental limits started in the army.
On my third tour of Timor, I decided I wanted to run a marathon when I returned to Sydney. Training in a remote jungle checkpoint where the militia was still taking pot shots at us on patrol meant getting creative - two hours straight of skipping a day behind the wire, plus when the Boss allowed - 5K loops through the village carrying my 12kg MAG 58 machine gun plus ammo – not optimal but you gotta improvise with what's available!
Two months later I ran my first marathon in 3hr 35min. That should have been the end of it. Instead, I wondered what I could do if I actually trained properly.
The next 7 years became an obsession: The program my coach gave me was about 150 kilometres of running most weeks, in the 7 marathons I raced (along with a heap of shorter races) my PB was 2hr 38min at Gold Coast which won me the Queensland Championship that year.
Then I found another mountain.
I was never swimmer, but I wanted to race a triathlon. I was a great runner and cyclist but I couldn't be 'Doggy Paddling' the swim leg in a Triathlon if I wanted to be competitive! So I practiced the right bi-lateral breathing stroke technique in the mirror on barracks in the Army, then mastered it first in a 25m lap pool, then a 50m lap pool, and soon after I was doing triathlons and then qualified for the Australian Ironman. I eventually took on an 11K ocean charity swim. The next year, I doubled it to 22K and challenged two elite swimmers to join me to gain more publicity and donations to the charity. One was the current world record holder in his swimming event and the other had narrowly missed Olympic qualification that year.
They finished long before I did of course, I wasn't a real swimmer like them, I was just stubborn. By the 17km mark, one shoulder had practically given up, had nothing more to give, I was mostly swimming with one good arm and one arm that was about as effective for my stroke as a wet beach towel. The race doctor came out on a jet ski and was concerned and told my race was over, I had to stop.
I refused. I could see the lighthouse in the distance where the finish was, there was no chance I was quitting even if it took me until night fall.
I finished the 22K in just under 7hrs, probably that hardest endurance thing I'd done to that point. I stumbled out of the water and was hugged by all the young handicapped kids we'd been raising funds for, and any pain I felt from the swim was immediately forgotten. Soon after I started wondering: What's next?
That pattern has followed me throughout my life — become obsessed, climb the mountain, then go looking for another one.
To be continued….
Pro Punting…Gallerist….Bouncer…Garbage Truck Driver….Construction…Bulldozer driver…Bodyguard….Project Manager…Men's Group…Guide….Leader….First Responder…Remote Wilderness First Aid….