When Connor Emeny, Comm ’18, stepped to the front of Rose Commons at Mitchell Hall last week, he didn’t start with a story about Antarctica or records. Instead, the world record-holder asked the eager Queen’s crowd to take a collective breath.
On Oct. 28, Emeny presented a 45-minute keynote talk followed by a Q&A. He returned to his alma mater with plenty to discuss: A newly published book, an upcoming documentary, and the main subject of it all—Emeny is the first person in the world to run an Ironman Triathlon on all seven continents.
With so much to discuss, spending time on a breathing exercise may have seemed out of place. However, Emeny explained that it’s the same technique that he used before plunging into sub-zero waters on his final Ironman Triathlon in Antarctica. The point, he explained to the crowd, was to “be where your feet are”—a phrase he returned to throughout the hour-long keynote hosted by the Queen’s Student Alumni Association for their Gaels of the Last Decade series.
Emeny used the talk to reflect less on endurance sport and more on what it taught him about identity, failure, and faith in uncertain moments. He said his years at Queen’s shaped how he approaches challenge and identity.
He recalled feeling “out of place” among accomplished peers and credited that discomfort with pushing him to try new things. After leaving hockey, he joined the triathlon team and decided to attempt an Ironman within four years. “That little decision to try something new completely changed my life,” he said.
After graduation, Emeny worked briefly with Uber as an Account Representative before leaving corporate life behind to train for his first Ironman in New Zealand. When the pandemic struck weeks later, he said race cancellations and financial strain forced him to improvise. “I was living on couches,” he said. “But something bigger than those races was calling me.”
Throughout the hour-long keynote, Emeny emphasized the importance of belief, mentorship, and consistency over raw talent. He said finding mentors—triathletes like John Wragg and Elizabeth Model —helped him see his goals as possible. “If you take away anything from this talk,” he said, “It’s the power of belief. She [Model] believed in me, and I believed in myself.”
He encouraged students to “microdose discomfort” by building habits that make adversity familiar. “Anything you’ve done that was hard goes in your cookie jar,” he said. “When things get tough again, reach in and remind yourself you’ve been here before.”
Answering audience questions, Emeny moved between motivational themes and practical advice. He spoke about the pressure to appear perfect. “Passion’s so much better than perfection,” he said, “People invest in people, not in perfect decks or colour schemes.”
Several questions touched on identity after achievement, with Emeny previously discussing his own post-goal slump following his sixth triathlon before pursuing Antarctica. “You put everything into it, and then it’s gone,” he said. His recovery, he explained, came from redefining purpose beyond sport. Specifically, his goal is to help people around the world achieve their goals.
He introduced his new “Dare to Dream” initiative, a community challenge that encourages students to set goals and share their progress publicly. He also previewed his upcoming documentary Chasing Antarctica—which Emeny said to The Journal in a statement is come out in early 2026—and spoke about his recently published book All In, which both chronicle his journey to the seventh continent.
Emeny left the audience with a final message: “Dream big, start small, go all in […] and make it bigger than yourself.”
Tags
Connor Emeny, Ironman Triathlon, Mitchell Hall, Rose Commons
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