Pushing limits
Skating through life’s biggest challenges
By Duncan Roberts
Bond University alumnus Duncan Roberts (Class of 2011)is a marketing manager, writer and fundraising adventurer. In 2023, he longboarded over 1330kms around the entire country of Iceland for charity. He became the fifth person in the world to complete the expedition.
For the first time in my 38 years, I feared for my life. I was on a notorious stretch of a mountain pass heading into the bitterly cold north of Iceland. This was day 6 into my 38-day, 1400km skateboarding trip around the country. A Code Yellow blizzard had just been issued, with forecast winds of up to 150km/h. Wind gusts like that can rip car doors off and flip campervans, not to mention the torrential rain that usually accompanies them. All I had was my trusty longboard, my hiking pack and a long road ahead of me.
Conditions worsened and before I knew it my body was beginning to cramp and shut down. I was struggling to continue. Then, out of nowhere, WHACK! A passing campervan’s side mirror struck my left shoulder, sending shards of glass and plastic all over the road.
The ordeal was over before I had the time to process what had happened. Within seconds I was on my own again battling against the elements. If I had stopped I would have gone hypothermic in minutes given the cyclonic conditions, the near-zero temperatures and the bitter wind blowing off snow-capped mountains. My only option was to push on.
The shock of being struck and trying to shake off the bitter cold was almost overwhelming. But somewhere within me was an electrifying feeling of being alive - having my back against the wall and saying, “Nah, not today”. I pushed back.
Fast forward 12 months and I am swimming for my life in the eerily dark waters of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It’s 240m deep, frigidly cold at 6°C and home to the legendary Nessy.
The challenge was for me to swim across the widest part of Loch Ness (2.7km), climb the highest peak in the UK (Ben Nevis at 1345m) dressed in a kilt, carry my 8kg bagpipes in my backpack to play at the summit, and then make it back down before the weather turned rotten. I named this challenge “The Highlander Triathlon” and, to my knowledge, I am the first in the world to ever complete such a unique, triple challenge.
This was just the beginning of what was to become a new chapter in my life. After a deep dive into the Stoics over the past few years, two key takeaways have formed the pillars of the concept that would become DuncanDOES. The Stoics, ancient Greek and Roman philosophers who followed a school of thought founded in Athens around 300 BC, believed the practice of virtue is enough to achieve a well-lived life. Firstly, I want to be living out of service to the community. Acting with the “collective” in mind rather than just the individual. As Marcus Aurelius said, “What does not benefit the hive is no benefit to the bee”. The second takeaway, “Memento Mori”, is to meditate on the impermanence of life and to not let it go to waste. I wanted to challenge myself, physically and mentally, beyond my desk job.
I am not extraordinary, but I want to inspire people to realise they are far more capable of accomplishing extraordinary things than they realise. I am no ultra-athlete, pro skateboarder or distance swimmer. But I know whatever challenge you put your mind to, you might surprise yourself.
The purpose of my efforts is to live a life full of adventure, intention and service. I want to come out the other side by the skin of my teeth, dusty, wrinkled and with a smile on my face, knowing I squeezed every last drop out of this lemon we call life. We only have one roll of the dice here on earth and I want to live a life with real purpose, positive impact, and one hell of a story to tell the grandkids!
“I want to live a life with real purpose, positive impact, and one hell of a story to tell the grandkids.”
The fundraising element, however, can be a challenging one – especially working full-time whilst training, fundraising, creating content and pursuing PR opportunities. I have self-funded my trips so far and the costs are quickly mounting.
I would like to see a model where corporate Australia gets behind individuals like me who are trying to make a difference. Essentially, I would become a “roving” fundraising athlete for these organisations.
So far I have collaborated with Sea Shepherd Australia, LIVIN.org and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation. This has involved fundraising, creating awareness and taking direct action to help these organisations achieve outcomes. Shutting down whaling in Iceland was one big outcome I’m proud to have been a part of.
So, what’s my next adventure? You will have to find out @skatingforchange, @DuncanDoes, and duncandoes.com.
