Bob McKerrow was Editor of the New Zealand Adventure Magazine in 1989 and 1990, and continues to write and contribute photographs to various magazines, websites, and blogs.
23 Facts About Bob McKerrow
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Bob McKerrow was born in Dunedin, New Zealand on 21 March 1948 and is registered as "Robert James Bob McKerrow" in the Deaths, Births and Marriages office in Dunedin.
3.
Bob McKerrow was a leading middle-distance runner from the age of 13, and broke the Otago provincial record for Under 17, and later Under 19,880 yards with a time of one minute, 57.8 seconds.
4.
Bob McKerrow won a number of athletic titles at the Otago and Southland Inter-Secondary school championships, and ran his first marathon at 17, recording a time of three hours, 10 seconds.
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Bob McKerrow represented Otago province at junior level athletics and rugby before turning his attention to venturing into the hills and mountains, where he established himself as a mountaineer and skier.
6.
At the age of 19, Bob McKerrow was selected to be a member of a New Zealand mountaineering expedition to Peru, to the remote Cordillera Vilcabamba.
7.
Bob McKerrow went first to Scott Base in early October 1969, and in January 1970 moved to Vanda Station in the Wright Valley, and was part of a four-man team that wintered over in Antarctica.
8.
Bob McKerrow has climbed and trekked extensively in New Zealand, Europe, Peru, Antarctica, Borneo, East Africa, Nepal, India, Central Asia, and has been a member expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic.
9.
In 1985, polar explorer and arctic conservationist Will Steger invited Bob McKerrow to join him on a training expedition in preparation for an unsupported trip with dogs to the North Pole the following year.
10.
Bob McKerrow took part in the unsupported 1986 North Pole expedition, but had to be airlifted out after a month with broken ribs.
11.
Bob McKerrow has three times competed in the Coast to Coast, which is a multisport competition that features running, cycling and kayaking elements over a total of 243 kilometres.
12.
Bob McKerrow covered four further events as a journalist and co-wrote the 1994 book Coast to Coast: The Great New Zealand Race.
13.
Bob McKerrow first worked in Asia in 1971 as a member of the New Zealand Red Cross refugee welfare team to Vietnam, working on livelihood programmes.
14.
Bob McKerrow has worked for the Red Cross in New Zealand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Geneva, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tonga, Western Samoa, the Cook Islands and now in the Philippines.
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Bob McKerrow has been head of the regional delegations of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for Central Asia and South Asia.
16.
Bob McKerrow was invited by The Insurance Brokers of New Zealand to their annual conference in Auckland on 14 July 2011 as keynote speaker.
17.
Bob McKerrow has been involved in 15 earthquake relief-to-recovery operations including Tonga, India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and up until mid 2013, heading the tsunami recovery in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
18.
Bob McKerrow left the IFRC in August 2013, and in November 2013 took up the position of country coordinator for the Swiss Red Cross after the extremely devastating Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
19.
Bob McKerrow was involved with the compilation of the Tsunami Legacy report and the tsunami documentary that was shown on Discovery TV to mark five years of tsunami.
20.
In late 2012, Bob McKerrow was awarded three medals by the New Zealand Government: the NZ Operational Service Medal, NZ General Service Medal and the NZ Special Service Medal from the NZ Defence Force.
21.
From 1983, Bob McKerrow was Director of the New Zealand Outward Bound School at Anakiwa, New Zealand and wrote a number of publications of outdoor education and experiential learning.
22.
Bob McKerrow introduced the first ever Over 60s course into the NZ Outward Bound School and expanded courses for youth at risk, physically and mentally challenged.
23.
Bob McKerrow helped organize the first International Outward Bound Conference at Anakiwa New Zealand in 1983 and attended the 2nd conference in Malaysia in 1986.