Sponsored Athletes

In December 2022, NKR-sponsored athlete Matt Cavanaugh successfully completed the Racing the Planet Grand Slam, becoming the first living kidney donor to complete the 4 Deserts Ultramarathon Series in a single year, covering 1,000 kilometers over grueling courses in Namibia, Georgia, Chile and Antarctica. In 2023, along with fellow kidney donor Hilary Baude, Matt took on the 1K12M (One Kidney, 12 Marathons) challenge, completing 12 marathons within one year—shattering the misperception that kidney donation imposes physical limits on donors.

In 2023, David Ashley led a team of three mountaineers, assisted by two support crew, and broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to climb the highest point in every U.S. state. The team completed the challenge in 41 days, 21 hours and 1 minute, besting the previous record by more than one full day. In May 2022, David successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest, completing the 1 Kidney 7 Summits challenge.