Rich Roll is one of the most notable as a wellness advocate. Rich is a vegan ultra-endurance athlete and full-time wellness & plant-based nutrition advocate, popular public speaker, husband, father of 4 and inspiration to people worldwide as a transformative example of courageous and healthy living. This piece is all about one of the biggest and strongest men in the world.
Rich Roll’s Story
The Fall & The Rise
Although he competed as a butterfly swimmer at Stanford University in the late 80’s, Rich’s career was cut short by struggles with drugs and alcohol. This led him astray for the next decade, alienating friends, colleagues and family, landing in jails, institutions and ultimately rehab at age 31.
Everything came to head on the eve of his 40th birthday. Defeated by a mere flight of stairs that left him buckled over in pain, he foresaw the almost certain heart attack looming in his near future.
Rich overhauled his diet, became a dedicated vegan, put on his running shoes and jumped back into the pool. It wasn’t long before ambition took hold and his quest to participate in Ultraman began. Two years later, 50 pounds lighter, and fueled by nothing but plants. He surprised the triathlon & ultra communities by not only becoming the first vegan to complete the 320-mile über-endurance event, but by finishing in the top 10 males (3rd fastest American) with the 2nd fastest swim split. All despite having never previously completed even a half-ironman distance triathlon.
Above & Beyond
In May 2010, Rich and his ultra-colleague Jason Lester accomplished an unprecedented feat of staggering endurance. The EPIC5 CHALLENGE– an odyssey that entailed completing 5 ironman-distance triathlons on 5 islands of Hawaii in under a week. Commencing on Kauai, they travelled to Oahu, Molokai and Maui before finishing on the Big Island. Following the course of the Ironman World Championships on the Kona coast.
In 2012, Rich became a #1 bestselling author with the publication of his inspirational memoir. Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World’s Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself.
Taking up where the book leaves off, in 2013 Rich launched the wildly popular Rich Roll Podcast, which persistently sits atop the iTunes top-10 lists. In 2014, Rich & his wife Julie Piatt published the bestselling cookbook and lifestyle primer, The Plantpower Way: Whole Food Plant-Based Recipes And Guidance For The Whole Family.
Rich’s plant-fueled feats of boundary-pushing athleticism feature on CNN. Major publications including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine, which named Rich as one of the “25 Fittest Men in the World.”
Rich Roll Current life and net worth
Along with his wife and four children, Rich resides in Malibu Canyon outside of Los Angeles. When he isn’t writing, podcasting or with his family, you can find him on the trails of Santa Monica Mountains. Rich Roll’s net worth is a little above $10 million.
