Paul Harris Award: Meagan McGrath

Major Meagan McGrath was born in Toronto, in 1977, and raised in Sudbury, Ontario. She enrolled in the Canadian Forces in 1995, and graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 2000, with a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry). Upon completion of her Aerospace Engineering training, Major McGrath served for a short time as the Maintenance Support Officer at 19 Air Maintenance Squadron, CFB Comox. She was then posted to Ottawa in 2001, where she worked as an Imaging Radar System Engineer, a sub-project of the Aurora Incremental Modernization Project. On August 15, 2005 Major McGrath was posted to the Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre Ottawa Detachment, the Air Force Experimentation Centre. Most recently, Maj McGrath has been working on the implementation of a Canadian Forces-wide logistics tool.

Since 2002, Meagan McGrath has climbed many peaks throughout the world, in an attempt to climb the “Seven Summits” – the highest peak on each continent. At 0507hrs, on 21 May 2007, Meagan summitted Mount Everest, achieving her goal to climb the Seven Summits (Kosciuszko version). In January 2008, she became the First Canadian Woman to summit the Carstenz Pyramid version of this mountain challenge, becoming the only Canadian woman to achieve both versions of the Seven Summits. Mountains are Meagan's passion, but she has always had a fascination with desert environments.

On 15 January 2010, Meagan became the First Canadian (male or female) to ski solo, unassisted and unsupported, to the South Pole. Meagan travelled over 1095km for 40 days, hauling a sled that weighed just over 200lbs. It was uphill all the way, and the most challenging aspect of the expedition was the monotony of the daily routine. She faced fierce storms, terribly cold temperatures, whiteouts and crevasses.

This was Meagan's first major polar expedition - and hopefully, not her last!! She already has a couple ideas for other significant polar expeditions!