Richard Bowles

Richard Bowles (born 19 September 1978, in Leicester, England) is an adventurer and educator who holds several records in endurance running.

In 2012, Bowles became the first person to run Australia's Bicentennial National Trail (BNT).

Running from Healesville, Victoria to Cooktown, Queensland, he covered 5,330 km in five months.

Two weeks after completing the BNT, Bowles ran New Zealand's Te Araroa at 3,054 km becoming the first person to complete it.

In 2013 Bowles ran the Israel National Trail, covering its 1,009 km length in 13 days after a life-threatening foot infection delayed his original plan of 12 days.

Later that year, he became the first person to run an exploding volcano, Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra, after covering 800 km from the east of the island to its west.

In 2014 Bowles completed South Australia's 1,200 km Heysen Trail, averaging 85 km a day in 14 days, smashing the previous 25-day record.

In 2017 Dr Ricardo Costa of Monash University approached Bowles about testing his endurance fitness.

Bowles ran 50 km a day for two weeks on a treadmill in a 32 °C climate-controlled tent while carrying 12 kg. This was to replicate multi-stage races and the nutrition requirements needed in desert environments.

In 2018 Bowles lived with and studied the Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei Japan who take on the kaihōgyō, a spiritual challenge of endurance in pursuit of enlightenment.

The journey lasts over seven years, and the stakes are high.

If they fail, the monk must perform Hara-kiri – ‘honourable suicide'.

2019 he lived and worked on the streets of India for a week surviving on AU$2:00 a day; to experience the lives of the Rickshaw Wallahs.

2022, he worked a week in the death industry, collecting and preparing bodies and organising funerals.