Daniel Byles

Daniel (Dan) Alan Byles FRGS (British, born 1974) is a mountaineer, sailor, ocean rower, and polar adventurer. In 1997 he took part in the first ever Atlantic Rowing Race, the Port St Charles Barbados Atlantic Rowing Race, successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean unsupported in a 23 ft wooden rowing boat in 101 days with his mother Janice Meek. In 2007 he and his mother were united in adventure once again when, together with team mate Richard Profit, they successfully walked and skied 350 mi from Resolute, Nunavut to the Magnetic North Pole in 20 days and 5 hours. He currently holds two Guinness World Records. In March 2007, Byles was selected to stand for Parliament at the next General Election. Byles is married to Prashanthi Reddy.

Background
Byles spent his early childhood as an expatriate in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia before returning at age nine to the UK Cotswold market town of Chipping Norton. Helped by a government funded scholarship, the Assisted Places Scheme, Byles attended Warwick School. Active in the Combined Cadet Force Byles made an early decision to follow a career in the Military when he won one of ninety Army Sixth Form Scholarships awarded by the Ministry of Defence that year.

After completing A Levels in 1992, Byles took a year out. He spent some time working in his parents’ restaurant before travelling to Southeast Asia to backpack through Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. During this trip, he spent a month studying Vipassana meditation at the Wat Ram Poeng  Buddhist monastery in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

Returning to England in 1993, Byles was awarded one of thirty Army Cadetships, a university scholarship scheme no longer open to non medical/dental students. He attended the University of Leeds from 1993 – 1996, where he earned a 2.1 BA Joint Honours in Economics and Management Studies.

Military career
Following university, Byles attended Commissioning Course 963 at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he won the Defence and International Affairs Essay Prize. Although initially sponsored by the The Light Infantry Byles changed his mind while at Sandhurst, choosing instead to accept a Regular Commission with the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Medical Support Officer. Immediately after graduating from Sandhurst, Byles was granted six months leave to row across the Atlantic (see below).

During almost nine years of service, Byles served overseas in Germany, the Falkland Islands, Cyprus and Kenya, and operationally in Kosovo and Bosnia. From 2002 to 2004 Byles was a staff officer in the Ministry of Defence. At age 27, Byles was the youngest serving Major in the British Army. Byles left the military in 2005.

Adventures and expeditions
Byles has taken part in expeditions all over the world including Africa, Canada, Bavaria, the Alps, Peru, Bolivia and Borneo. He has also sailed extensively in eastern Australia, SE Asia and across the Atlantic.

Major mountaineering expeditions

 * 1995 - Cordillera Real (Bolivia). High altitude winter mountaineering expedition to climb:
 * Illimani (6438m)
 * Huayna Potosi (6088 m)
 * Chacaltaya (5421)
 * Charquini (5400m)


 * 1996 – East Africa. Expedition to climb the two highest peaks in Africa:
 * Mount Kilimanjaro (5895m)
 * Mount Kenya (5199m)

Atlantic rowing race 1997
In 1995 Byles was asked by a school friend to join him in entering the first ever Atlantic Rowing Race. He accepted, but his friend subsequently had to withdraw from the team. Byles asked his mother Janice Meek to be his team mate instead. Despite neither of them being rowers or sailors, she accepted and they went on to successfully row 3044 nmi from Tenerife to Barbados in their boat Carpe Diem. Their unsupported crossing took 100 days, 18 hours and 57 minutes. The story of their adventure has been recorded in at least three Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

In rowing across the Atlantic, the pair achieved two Guinness World Records: they became the first mother and son team to row any ocean ; and at 53 Meek became the oldest person at the time to row any ocean, although since 2005 this record has been held by Pavel Rezvoy (66).

Atlantic rowing race support yacht 2005
In 2005, Byles lent his experience to a new generation of ocean rowers when he joined the crew of the support yacht Aurora for the 2005 Atlantic Rowing Race, spending 76 days at sea during the worst conditions yet experienced by an ocean rowing race as a result of Hurricane Epsilon. An unprecedented 19 boats capsized during the race, with six quitting as a result of unrepairable damage.

Polar race 2007
Ten years after their successful ocean row, Byles and his mother set two additional world records in the Arctic in 2007. The mother and son team, along with team mate Richard Profit, took part in the Polar Race 2007 in April 2007. This involved walking and skiing 350 mi from Resolute, Nunavut in Canada to the Magnetic North Pole. They survived the worst ice conditions for years, a near catastrophic tent fire and areas of open water and slush to successfully reach the Pole in 20 days and 5 hours. In doing so they set a new world record as the first mother and son team to reach any Pole by foot, and Janice Meek became the oldest woman to reach the Magnetic North Pole by foot.

Charities and organisations
Returning to the UK after rowing the Atlantic, Byles’ achievement was recognised when he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Byles is a founding trustee of The Carpe Diem Trust, a charity aimed at helping ordinary people to undertake extraordinary achievements.

Political career
On 8 March 2007, Byles was selected as the Conservative Party's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the North Warwickshire constituency at the next General Election. He was selected at an open primary. If elected, he will become a Member of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons.

Guinness world records
In 2006 Byles and his mother Janice Meek were belatedly awarded a Guinness World Record certificate for being the first mother and son team to row any ocean in 1997/8.

In April/May 2007, Byles and his mother Janice Meek became the first mother and son team to walk/ski to any Pole. They are expected to be featured in the 2008 book of Guinness World Records.