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Patrick J. Sweeney

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For other people named Patrick Sweeney, see Patrick Sweeney.
Patrick Sweeney
Born
Patrick J. Sweeney II

(1970-11-09) November 9, 1970 (age 54)
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of New Hampshire
University of Virginia
Occupation(s)Author
Adventurer
Entrepreneur
Years active1998–present
SpouseChristen Sweeney[1]
Children3
Websitewww.pjsweeney.com

Patrick J. Sweeney, II (born 9 November 1970) is an American entrepreneur, adventurer, and author.[2] He is the author of three books including a Wall Street Journal Bestseller, Fear is Fuel: The Surprising Power to Find Purpose, Passion and Performance, and RFID for Dummies.[3]

Sweeney was the first person to attempt cycling the Seven Summits, and holds a world record for being the first person to officially cycle to Everest Base Camp and the first person to cycle Mount Elbrus.[4][5]

Early life and education

Patrick J. Sweeney II was born in November 9, 1970 in Boston to first-generation Irish immigrants.[6] His father worked three jobs while his mother took care of the children.[6] In 1982 they settled in Keene.

Sweeney enrolled in the University of New Hampshire[6] where he took up rowing and was crew captain.[6] He was the lead oarsman (stroke) on a four-man team that won the Dad Vail National Championship.

Sweeney also participated in two Olympic trials and finished 14th in 1992[6] and 2nd in 1996[6] in the single scull (one man rowing).[7] He retired in 1996 after winning the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in the "Men's Elite Single" category.[8]

In 1998, Sweeney earned an MBA from Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.[9]

In 2002, Sweeney attended summer school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology specifically at the auto-ID center for the Internet of Things (IoT) and RFI.[10]

Career

Sweeney had his first job when he was in high school and started working part-time in Boston, Massachusetts.[11] Upon graduating from the University of New Hampshire, he worked for four entrepreneurs in Bedford, New Hampshire, building houses, hotels, and restaurants, before leaving to train full time as an athlete.[12]

Sweeney did an internship at Trammell Crow Company.[13] In October 1999, he started a company, ServerVault, which provides ultra-secure web hosting facilities.[14] In 2000, the company opened data centers in the United States and Ireland.[15] In 2002 it was sold to Western & Southern Capital[16] and later in 2009 to Carpathia Hosting.[17]

In 2002, Sweeney and co-inventor of EPC protocol Daniel Engels started ODIN technologies.[18] It became dominant in RFID technology.[19] In January 2013 the company was acquired by Quake Global.[20]

Writing

Sweeney has authored three books: RFID for Dummies (2005), CompTIA RFID+ Study Guide: Exam RF0-001 (2006), both published by John Wiley & Sons and Fear is Fuel: the Surprising Power to Find Purpose, Passion and Performance Performance published by Rowman & Littlefield.

Fear is Fuel: the Surprising Power to Find Purpose, Passion and Performance Performance later became a bestseller and was included in March 2020 The Wall Street Journal Bestseller List.[21]

Public speaking

Sweeney gave a TEDx talk at Eaglebrook School (Deerfield, Massachusetts) named The Surprising Power of Fear.[22]

In June 2017, Sweeney gave a Talk at Google at the European Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

In July 2021, he gave another TEDx talk titled How to Use Fear as Fuel at the Pearl Street Event in Washington, DC.[23]

Adventuring and athletics

In high school, Sweeney led Keene High School to the New Hampshire state championship in cross country skiing. In college, he was part of the ski team his freshman year but failed to make the team after the first year. He took up rowing at UNH and won a national championship.[24]

In November 2012, Sweeney and four other American tech entrepreneurs formed CoreCo/dwinQ team to compete in a three-day La Ruta de los Conquistadores race.[25] In September 2013, Sweeney participated in Haute Route Pyrenees.[26]

In February 2014, Sweeney participated in 350 miles in the Iditarod Trail Invitational race in Alaska on his fatbike.[27]

In July 2014, Sweeney's nine-year-old son attempted to break the record for the youngest person to summit Mont Blanc. They hired British mountain guide Kenton Cool to lead the crew. On their trek toward the summit they were caught in a sliding snow avalanche and decided not to continue.[28][29] Sweeney filmed the attempt and the video was shown on Good Morning America, leading to criticism for taking children on dangerous trips.[2][30] Sweeney said he had no regrets and that the trip was "a heck of a lot better than having them sitting at home wasting their minds on Minecraft or TV or something like that".[28] Sweeney was widely criticized for endangering his children. Jean-Marc Peillex, mayor of the Saint-Gervais municipality in France that includes Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain, was furious when climbing enthusiast Paul Sweeney went on US TV to talk about his exploits. “It’s a demonstration of vanity and conceit pushed absolutely to the limit,” Peillex told reporters after seeing the lurid ABC news clip featuring Sweeny and his children, Shannon and Paul Junior."[31] Sweeney published video of his children almost being swept away on a steep snow-covered slope, saved by being roped into him. They can be heard screaming in terror as this happens.[32]

In 2015, Sweeney started an attempt to become the first person to summit the highest mountain on each continent and then ride down. On February 24, 2015 after a 6-day ride starting from Lukla, he reached South Base Camp in Nepal by bike, setting a world record.[33] The record was questioned by other mountain bikers, but Sweeney argues that he is the first mountain biker to reach base camp on the "more difficult" Nepali side.[4]

In 2016, Sweeney teamed up with endurance mountain biker and adventure racer Rebecca Rusch to summit Mount Kilimanjaro and raise funds and awareness for World Bicycle Relief.[34][35] The journey started on February 21 and lasted for six days.[34] Sweeney and Rusch started their ascent at 6000 feet, went to the top both by foot and on a bike and rode bikes down to the bottom.[36]

During summer 2016, Sweeney climbed Mount Elbrus with his 11-year-old son. His son was not able to make it to the top, but Sweeney reached the summit becoming the first to bring a mountain bike to the top and descended to the base camp on a fatbike.[5] The incident was the subject of a documentary film which was published by Outside Magazine and won the Moscow International Film Festival category for best story.[37]

In 2018, Sweeney won the Race Across America (RAAM) in the Mixed 4-Person under 50 Category riding a bicycle non-stop from Oceanside, Californian to Annapolis, Maryland.[38]

Bibliography

  • Sweeney, Patrick (2005). RFID for Dummies
  • Sweeney, Patrick (2006). CompTIA RFID+Study Guide: Exam RF0-001
  • Sweeney, Patrick (2020). Fear Is Fuel: The Surprising Power to Help You Find Purpose, Passion, and Performance

References

  1. ^ Debbie Schipp (2014-07-20). "Risk rocks, say the new breed of anti-helicopter parents". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 2017-09-10. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  2. ^ a b Lukas Eberle and Victoria Weidemann (2014-07-28). "'Snow! Snow! Get Moving!': The Lethal Lure of Mont Blanc". Spiegel Online. Archived from the original on 2014-10-01. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  3. ^ https://www.wsj.com/articles/bestselling-books-week-ended-march-14-11584642813
  4. ^ a b Phil Lindeman (2015-10-13). "Setting the record straight on Mount Everest mountain biking". Summit Daily. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  5. ^ a b "Riding Mount Elbrus with an 11-Year-Old". Outside. 2017-07-10. Archived from the original on 2017-07-14. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Adventure Entrepreneur Patrick Sweeney '89 Delivers Homecoming Keynote". University of New Hampshire. 2015-10-10. Archived from the original on 2015-10-19. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  7. ^ "Results". Rowing News, April 21 – May 4, 1996. The Independent Rowing News Inc. 21 April – 4 May 1996. Retrieved 2017-09-26. (Google Books)
  8. ^ "The Royal Canadian Henley Regatta (August 7-11, 1996)". Rowing News, August 24 – September 7, 1996. The Independent Rowing News Inc. 25 August – 7 September 1996. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  9. ^ Robert F. Bruner (2008-06-29). "Olympian with a Story". University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  10. ^ https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/23514-he-s-no-dummy-interview-with-patrick-sweeney
  11. ^ https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/23514-he-s-no-dummy-interview-with-patrick-sweeney
  12. ^ https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/23514-he-s-no-dummy-interview-with-patrick-sweeney
  13. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/06/21/amid-empty-space-a-secure-place/fcaca7f6-7561-4270-a88b-a70753f2a113/
  14. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2001/06/21/amid-empty-space-a-secure-place/fcaca7f6-7561-4270-a88b-a70753f2a113/
  15. ^ Jamie Smyth (2000-10-05). "US firm to set up Dublin Net centre". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  16. ^ "Fort Washington buys ServerVault". The Business Journals. 2002-04-18. Archived from the original on 2003-01-18. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  17. ^ Rich Miller (2009-08-02). "Carpathia Hosting Acquires ServerVault". datacenterknowledge.com. Archived from the original on 2009-10-15. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  18. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2004/09/20/odin-technologies-aims-to-be-the-chief-of-rfid/7d2173cc-d491-4956-82b8-4ee9524a86b3/
  19. ^ Mitch Mac Donald (2007-09-01). "He's no dummy: interview with Patrick Sweeney". dcvelocity.com. Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  20. ^ "Quake Global Acquires RFID Solutions Designer ODIN Technologies". San Diego Business Journal. 2014-01-24. Archived from the original on 2016-12-05. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  21. ^ https://www.wsj.com/articles/bestselling-books-week-ended-march-14-11584642813
  22. ^ "TEDx at Eaglebrook School". Eaglebrook School. 2017-04-22. Archived from the original on 2017-09-10. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  23. ^ https://www.tedxpearlstreet.com/patrick-sweeney
  24. ^ https://www.pjsweeney.com/bio/
  25. ^ Sue George (2012-11-20). "La Ruta de los Conquistadores sticks with three-day format". Cyclingnews.com. Archived from the original on 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  26. ^ Ciaran Lennon (2013-09-16). "On the high road to hell". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  27. ^ "2014 Race Roster". IditarodTrailInvitational.com. Archived from the original on 2016-10-30. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  28. ^ a b Lizzie Dearden (2014-07-28). "American climber whose children almost died in Mont Blanc avalanche says he has 'no regrets' amid criticism". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2015-10-28. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  29. ^ Constance Jamet (2014-07-28). "La présence d'enfants alpinistes sur le Mont-Blanc scandalise". Le Figaro. Archived from the original on 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2017-09-25.(in French)
  30. ^ Anne Penketh (2014-07-28). "US climber condemned for filming his children in Mont Blanc avalanche". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2014-08-20. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  31. ^ "French mayor files complaint against US dad who scaled Mont Blanc with kids". France 24. 2014-07-27. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  32. ^ Video: Riding Mount Elbrus with an 11-Year-Old, 2017-07-10, retrieved 2020-07-13
  33. ^ "Alpina Watches Ambassador Patrick Sweeney Establishes World First on the Everest". EuropaStar.com. 2015-03-11. Archived from the original on 2017-05-05. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  34. ^ a b Chadd Cripe (2016-02-23). "Playing Outdoors: Idaho woman hikes, bikes Kilimanjaro for charity". Idaho Statesman. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  35. ^ Andie Bridges (2016-07-05). "Climbing Kilimanjaro by Bike". Santa Barbara Independent. Archived from the original on 2016-07-06. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  36. ^ Patrick Sweeney (2016-05-02). "Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro on a Bike Is as Hard as It Looks". Outside. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  37. ^ https://www.outsideonline.com/video/climbing-mount-elbrus-11-year-old/
  38. ^ "How This Man Survived (And Won) Race Across America". 19 July 2018.
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