Mitch Hutchcraft, a 31-year-old former Royal Marine from Cambridgeshire, has today made history by completing the longest climb of Mount Everest in history and record-breaking triathlon from the shores of the UK to the top of the world.
Mitch left from Dover, England, on 15th September 2024, and swam 35km nonstop across the Channel, cycled over 12,000km through Europe and Asia to Digha in India; ran 900km to Kathmandu, Nepal, before trekking 360km to Everest base camp – all before embarking on his ascent of Mount Everest.
His 240 day challenge reached its conclusion this morning when Mitch topped out on the world’s highest mountain at 7.30am [Nepalese time] this morning, Sunday 11th May.
Mitch, and his climb team, are healthy and safe but are still on the mountain descending back to basecamp.
About his record breaking adventure, Mitch said; “It’s been a dream of mine since I was 8 years old to climb Everest, ever since I saw it in a book.”
“Never in a million years did I think this would be how I’d get here. Years of preparation, 8 long months of physical endurance, swimming across the Channel…the hardest day of my life, cycling across 19 countries, running 900km, and following in the footsteps of the first ever climb of Everest to reach base camp.
“It’s been one hell of a journey.”
Officially, his challenge will end when he reaches basecamp, which the team hope will be within the next 24 hours.
Mitch’s superhuman feat of endurance and resilience has been the result of years of planning. Molly McDonald, founder and producer of Blue Door Productions, had editing s supported the challenge from the beginning, alongside full-time, on-the-ground shooting and editing by Stanley Gaskell.
Molly added; “It’s been a long road since Mitch first pitched his dream to us. As a small team, without funding or a social following to support the expedition, we knew Project Limitless was a big risk, but we saw a real magic in who Mitch is and the message he wanted to share.
“Thanks to the incredible support of amazing partners – and a massive online community – that distant dream has become a reality.
“I’m incredibly proud of this adventure, though for Blue Door, the finish line is not the summit, but when we get our team back home safely.”
Through the challenge, which he has named Project Limitless, Mitch is hoping to inspire people to push themselves outside the boundaries of what they individually believe to be impossible.
He added: “This has been the most painful, but fulfilling, adventure. I just want it to inspire others to believe that whatever they’re dreaming, however small, they just need to get out there and smash it.”
Mitch is raising money for SAVSIM, a non-profit organisation centred around wildlife conservation, dedicated to providing mental health support to veterans and others suffering from PTSD and similar issues.
They also contribute to various anti-poaching efforts, helping to protect wildlife around the globe by helping veterans to transition into the field of preventing wildlife crime.
Mitch added: “For me this is so much more than just a dream to make history, it is also the chance to raise funds and awareness for an amazing non-profit organisation very close to my heart and give back to veteran mental health and wildlife conservation.”
To support Mitch’s record-breaking world’s longest triathlon, visit: https://givestar.io/gs/limitless
At just 20, Mitch faced the sudden loss of his father- a tragedy that became the driving force behind his decision to follow their long-held dream of joining the Royal Marines.
Completing the expedition has been a monumental effort for Mitch who had once been told a full knee reconstruction would make it impossible to even join the military, let alone complete a challenge of this magnitude.
He proved them wrong, serving for six years before leaving the military in 2021 to pursue new challenges because his desire for adventures was overwhelming.
While this is by far the biggest challenge of his life, this isn’t his first epic adventure and Mitch has spent the last few years rowing 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean; cycling 5000 km across North America and climbing some of the most beautiful and challenging mountains in the world before the dream for Project Limitless was born.
To find out more about Mitch’s expedition, see @_mitchhutch on Instagram.
