About Don Mann

Don Mann’s impressive military biography includes being a decorated combat veteran; Corpsman; SEAL Special Operations Technician; jungle survival, desert survival, and arctic survival instructor; small arms weapons instructor, foreign weapons instructor, armed and unarmed defense tactics, advanced hand-to-hand combat instructor; and Survival, Evade, Resistance and Escape Instructor; in addition to other credentials.

Don Mann’s impressive military biography includes being a decorated combat veteran; Corpsman; SEAL Special Operations Technician; jungle survival, desert survival, and arctic survival instructor; small arms weapons instructor, foreign weapons instructor, armed and unarmed defense tactics, advanced hand-to-hand combat instructor; and Survival, Evade, Resistance and Escape Instructor; in addition to other credentials. Mann is the author of the autobiography Inside SEAL Team Six: My Life and Missions with America’s Elite Warriors. When Osama bin Laden was assassinated, the entire world was fascinated by the men who had completed the seemingly impossible mission that had dogged the U.S. government for over a decade. SEAL Team 6 became synonymous with heroism, duty, and justice. Only a handful of the elite men who make up the SEALs, the US Navy’s best and bravest, survive the legendary and grueling selection process that leads to Team 6, a group so classified it technically does not even exist. There are no better warriors on Earth. Mann knows what it takes to be a brother of this ultra-selective fraternity. As a member of Seal Team Six for over eight years and a SEAL for over 17 years, he worked in countless covert operations, operating from land, sea, and air, and facing shootings, decapitations, and stabbings. He was captured by the enemy and lived to tell the tale, and he participated in highly classified missions all over the globe, including Somalia, Panama, El Salvador, Colombia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. As a current training coordinator for several civilian SEAL training programs, and as a former Training Officer of SEAL Team 6, he was directly responsible for shaping the bodies and minds of SEALs who carried out the assassination of Osama bin Laden. But to become a SEAL, Mann had to overcome his own troubled childhood and push his body to its breaking point-and beyond. At the podium and in Inside Seal Team 6, he shares a high octane narrative of physical and mental toughness, giving unprecedented insight to the inner workings of the training and secret missions of the world’s most respected and feared combat unit.

Don Mann has over 20 years (1,000+ races) worth of competitive racing experience, and was once ranked 38th in the world as a triathlete.

Don Mann has been featured on: ABC, CBS, CBN, CNN, NBC, OLN, ESPN, MSNBC Morning Joe, Weather Channel, ABC/NBC affiliates, ABC 20/20, RUSH International, FOX Family network, Fox and Friends, Good Morning San Diego, The Daily BEAST, The Ski Channel, the Lars Larsen Show, The Breakfast Buss, News Channel 3 Norfolk, News Channel 13 Norfolk, NPR, G. Gordon Liddy Radio Talk Show, Fox Radio, CNN Radio, the Ostrolenk Radio Show, The Breakfast Nook” on WGET Radio, WTKF-FM, The Coastal Daybreak with The Ben Ball Show, 550-KTSA AM, an ABC News Radio/BMP Radio station, WPTF “NewsRadio 680″, KNWZ Radio, Forever Communications, “Mac in the Morning”, WHAM Morning News”, Sirius XM Radio, “Pia Lindstrom Presents”, WMLB-AM “Conversations with”, KFNS-AM (ESPN) “The King’s Court”, and WAB “The John Batchelor Show”.

Articles on Don can be found in: Sports Illustrated, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Men’s Fitness, Runner’s World, Triathlete, Trail Runner, National Geographic Adventure, Outside Magazine, Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, New York Times, Denver Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Rapid City Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, Military Press ,Adventure Sports Magazine, Chicago Sun Times, American Thinker magazine, Boys Life, CNN.com, iTunes, Blackfive.net and Myshelf.com.as well as many more print and web based sources.

Don Mann is known for producing and directing more multi-day, multi-sport, adventure races, triathlons and SEAL training events than any other person in the world.

Don MannBiography:

  • Director of Primal Quest Expedition Adventure Race – “The World’s Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition”
  • Founder and Director of Odyssey Adventure Racing, Inc.
  • Producer and Director of Expedition BVI
  • Designed the world’s longest adventure race(s) for Warner Brothers and IMAX – Ecuador to the North Pole and Ecuador to the South Pole
  • Selected as Richard Branson’s North American Medical Coordinator for his Trans-Global Circumnavigation Balloon voyage.
  • Named Virginia Beach Ambassador Extraordinaire
  • Inspirational Speaker
  • Executive Board Member United States Adventure Racing Association (USARA)
  • Product tester/developer for New Balance footwear, Lava Gear, Master Foods, Mile High Muscle, SEDA kayaks
  • Masters, Management, Troy State University, Troy, AL
  • B.S., International Relations & Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
  • B.S., Liberal Science, State University of New York

Author:

  • Author of Inside SEAL Team 6, My Life and Missions with America’s Elite Warriors, Little, Brown and Company. (publish date Dec. 2012)
  • Author of The Modern Day Gunslinger, Skyhorse Publication
  • Co-author of Hunt the Wolf, Little, Brown and Company. (publish date Nov. 2011)
  • Co-author of Hunt the Scorpion , Little, Brown and Company. (publish date 2012)
  • Author of The Navy SEAL Survival Manual, Skyhorse Publication (publish date 2012)
  • Author of The Complete Guide to Adventure Racing, Hatherleigh Publication
  • Sports Training writer for Navy, Army, and Air Force Times
  • Consultant, character based on Don Mann, Glass Mountain, R.M Koster
  • Consultant for the Adventure Racing Handbook, Holland Press
  • Consultant for Adventure Racing – Jacques Marais and Lisa de Speville
  • Consultant for The Thrill of Victory – The Agony of My Feet, Breakaway Books
  • Consultant for Fixing Your Feet – Footwork Publications
  • Consultant for Adventure Coaching – Action Learning Associates
  • Consultant for Tales from the World of Adventure Racing
  • Contributor for Extreme Adventures – Martin Paquette

Military Biography:

  • Navy SEAL/Chief Warrant Officer Retired
  • SEAL Team One, CA
  • SEAL Team Six, VA
  • SBU-26, Republic of Panama
  • SEAL Team Two, VA
  • Navy Special Warfare Development Group, VA
  • Advisor and Primary Trainer for the USN Sea Cadet – SEAL Corps, SEAL Adventure Challenge and SEAL Training Academy, Icelandic SEAL Adventure Challenge

Don Mann

Decorated Combat Veteran, Navy SEAL Warrant Officer; Corpsman, EMT, paramedic; SEAL Special Operations Technician; Special Forces Medical Laboratory graduate; static line, high altitude free-fall and advance free-fall parachutist; open circuit, closed circuit oxygen and air scuba diver, diving supervisor; jungle survival, desert survival and arctic survival instructor; Military Operations in Urban Terrain instructor; small boat operator for craft up to 65 feet; technical rock climbing, mountaineering; small arms weapons instructor, foreign weapons instructor, armed and unarmed defense tactics; photo intelligence; Survival, Evade, Resistance and Escape Instructor.

Athletic Biography:

  • Navy Men’s Senior Athlete of the Year Award
  • Worked out, every day straight, without a day off for over 22 years.
  • Completed over 1000 endurance competitions over the last 30 years. The most significant and most recent events listed below:

Running:

  • 75+ marathons and ultras
  • Ran 30 marathons in 36 months.
  • Mt Mitchell Marathon (America’s Toughest Marathon)
  • Black Mountain 40-mile challenge
  • Mt Mitchell Ultra Marathon
  • JFK 50-miler.
  • 24-hour running events in Guam and Panama.
  • Qualified for the Western Pacific Cross-Country Championship Race
  • Sea Shore State Park 50K trail run, 4hrs 30 min, 2nd place.
  • Guam 50 mile Ultra Marathon
  • Western Pacific 10K Championships- Philippines, 1st Place, 33.39 (PR), 1984
  • Sea Shore State Park Ultra Marathon, 50K, 2nd Place, 1998
  • Umstead NC. Ultra Marathon, 100K, 12th place, 2000

Cycling Events:

Road Cycling:

  • Cat 4 road cyclist (70s-90s).
  • Numerous (100+ ) mile bike races and centuries
  • 300 miles per day – 1500 in 5 days (Guinness World Record pace), 1979.
  • Around the Island of Okinawa, Japan 231-mile bike race (Course Record), 1980.
  • Tecate to Ensenada Mexico, 75 miles 1983
  • Knotts Island, 100 miles, (1st Finisher), 1986
  • Assault on Mt. Mitchell 100+ mile Bike Race, 1998
  • Cannon Ball, 103 miles, 1st Finisher, 4 hrs, 47 min., (PR, 1998
  • Culpepper, 100 miles, 1st Finisher, 1999
  • Chesapeake Bay Bridge 112 miles, 1st Finisher, 1999
  • Mountains of Misery Challenge, 100 miles, 2000
  • Tour de Virginias, 5-day stage ride, 300 miles, 1750 riders (first finisher in every stage), 2002
  • Between the Waters – Eastern Shore, Onancock, 100 miles, 1st Finisher, 5 hrs. 41 min., 2010,
  • Between the Waters – Eastern Shore, Cape Charles, 100 miles, 1st Finisher, 5 hrs, 35 min., 2011
  • Dismal Dash 40K Time Trial, 1:07:58, 2011
  • Capital to Capital, 102 miles, 3rd place Finisher, 4 hrs 59 min. 2011
  • PLT Virginia State Time Trial Championships 23 miles, 58:56, 2011
  • Tour de Lyon Century, 95.7 miles, 1st team , 5:08:01, 2011

Mountain Bike

  • Professional mountain bike racer (mid-late 80s)
  • Virginia Beach Cycle Cross, 1st MTB / 2nd overall
  • Shenandoah 100-mile Back-Country Mountain Bike Race, 1997
  • 24 Hours of Canaan Mt. Bike Race –16th place, team event, 1997
  • 24 Hours of Canaan Mt. Bike Race – 4th place, Solo, 1998
  • 12 Hours of Ivor Mt. Bike Race, Solo, 1998
  • 18 Hours of Ivor Mt. Bike Race Solo, 1999
  • Fat Tire Duathlon – 2nd place, 1999
  • Iditasport 100-mile Winter Mountain Bike Race, Alaska, 2000
  • William and Mary Mountain Bike Classic, 20 miles, Expert Category, 2nd place age group, 3rd overall, 2:19:45, 2011
  • Tidewater Mountain Bike Challenge, 12 miles, B. Masters, 1st place, 1 hr 09 min, 2011

Triathlons:

  • Former PRO Triathlete
  • Hawaiian Iron Man – 57th overall in 1980.
  • Hawaiian Iron Man – 38th overall in 1981.
  • Super Frog Triathlon, Coronado CA, 1983.
  • Otay Lakes Duathlon, – CA, 2nd place 1984
  • Super SEAL Triathlon, Virginia Beach, VA, 1986
  • Military Championships, Fort Story, VA., 1st place, team event, 1987
  • Perth Triathlon, Australia, 1987.
  • Republic of Panama Triathlon, 1991
  • Odyssey Double IRON (16 mile paddle, 224 mile bike and 52.4 mile run) Triathlete Finisher – and current Double IRON paddling record holder. 2002
  • Williamsburg Sprint Triathlon, 1st place, team event, 2011

Adventure Racing:

  • Captain, Trans-Himalayan (Nepal, Tibet and across India) RAID Gauloises – (10 days, 500 miles).
  • Captain, First All-American Team RAID ‘ Ecuador (9 days, 400 miles).
  • Captain, RAID South Africa – (11 days, 500 miles, 200km trek, 250 km, class 4 and 5 raft/canoe, 160 km mtb, 90km horse, ).
  • Captain, RAID Patagonia – (9 days, 350 miles).
  • Captain ESPN Xtreme Adventure Race – (4 days, 250 miles).
  • Captain Great Nor’ Easter – (3 days, 200 miles).

Mountaineering:

  • Denalli (Alaska), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Whitney (California), Cotopaxi (Ecuador), Cayambe (Ecuador), Grand Teton (Wyoming), Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), Longs Peak (Colorado), Lovers Leap (California), Seneca Rock (Virgina) and numerous other climbs in the Himalayas, Rockies, White Mountains, Andes, Patagonia, South Africa, Red Rock, South East Asia, Ethiopian Highlands, South Korea, and Yosemite.
  • First Ascends: Devils Tower, Wyoming – “a Reach Too Far” 5.10, Red Rock, Nevada – “Jolly Roger”, 5.10.

 

Paddling:

  • The Great Nor Easter, Canoe / Portage leg, Woodstock NY, 1998, 1st place – 70 miles
  • Paddle for the Bay Kayak Race 1998: 1st place overall – 8 Mile Sea Kayak
  • Paddle for the Bay Kayak Race 1999: 3rd place – 8 Mile Sea Kayak
  • Colonial Williamsburg Rowing Club 2009: 1st place Open Masters D – 2000 Meter ERG Sprints – 7:05.2
  • Hampton Roads Rowing Club 2009: 1st place overall – 2000 Meter ERG Sprints – 6:56
  • Paddle for the Bay Kayak Race 2010: 1st place – 6.2 Mile Plastic Sea Kayak – 1:10.30
  • Onancock Kayak Race 2010: 2nd overall, 1st place – 6.8 Mile Sea Kayak – 1:01.50
  • The Stephen Chapman Benefit Paddle 2010: 1st place – 6.5 mile 19 foot Sea Kayak – 1:01
  • The Perennial Kayak Paddle Race Oct 2010: 1st place – 5.5 miles, 19 foot Sea Kayak – 53 min
  • MAPA St. Patricks Day Race 2011, 2nd place overall, 1st place – 5.6 miles, Sea Kayak – 55:30
  • Annual Bennets Creek Bash 2011, 3rd place overall, 2nd place Surf Ski division – 4.5 miles -48:48
  • Lafayette River Festival 2011, 2nd place overall, Surf Ski division – 6 miles – 45.26
  • Buckroe Hampton Paddle, 2011, 9 miles, 14th place overall
  • James River Paddle Challenge 2011, 2nd place overall, 2nd Surf Ski division – 10 miles -90:11
  • MAPA KIS Race, 2011, 2nd place overall, 2nd Surf Ski division, 6.8 miles, 59:34
  • Paddle for the Bay, 2011, 5th overall, 4th Surf Ski division, 6 miles, 56:40
  • Onancock Kayak Race 2011: 3rd overall, 3rd Surf Ski division, 7.3 miles, 1:10:49
  • Paddle for Patriots 2011: 1st overall, 1st Surf Ski division, 5.44 miles, 51:15
  • Chile Andes Mountain Range to the Pacific Ocean (cross country), 2011, Touring Sea Kayak, 100 miles, 5 days

Don has produced the following extreme and ultra distance competitions and team-building training courses:

Don Mann Adventure Races

  • Primal Quest Badlands 2009
  • Primal Quest Montana 2008
  • Primal Quest Sprint Series 2008
  • Primal Quest Utah 2006
  • BEAST of the East 1998 – 2004
  • Endorphin FIX 1998 – 2004
  • Mega Dose 1998 – 2004
  • Odyssey One Day Adventure Race 1998 – 2004
  • Jeep Kentucky Adventure Race 2002
  • Jeep Kentucky Sprint Race 2002
  • Expedition British Virgin Islands 2001

Don Mann Triathlons

  • Odyssey Triple Iron 1998 -2004
  • Odyssey Double Iron 1998 -2004
  • Odyssey Half Iron 1998 – 2004
  • Odyssey Off-Road (Xterra Qualifier) 1998 – 2004
  • Odyssey Off-Road Iron 2003
  • Odyssey Off-Road Half Iron 2003

Don Mann SEAL Team Leadership Training for Civilians

  • U.S Navy Sea Cadet Training 2005, 2006, 2008
  • Icelandic SEAL Adventure Challenge 2007, 2008
  • The SEAL Adventure Challenge 1997 – 2008
  • SEAL Training Academy 1997 – 2007
  • SEAL Adventure Leadership Training 2002, 2005
  • XDIN (Sweden) SEAL Corporate Leadership Training 2003

Corporate Team Building Events

  • Odyssey Adventure Racing Academy 1998 – 2004
  • Dominos Adventure Leadership Training 2004
  • SWIFT Adventure Leadership Training Course 2003
  • Eco-Seagate Adventure Leadership Training 2001

If you would like more information, click here to contact Don Mann.