Robyn Benincasa is a World Champion Adventure Racer, award-winning motivational speaker, 3-time Guinness World Record kayaker, San Diego firefighter, 10-time Ironman triathlete, New York Times bestselling author, proud owner of two bionic metal hips, and the founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Project Athena Foundation, which helps survivors live an adventurous dream as part of their recovery.^[74]

After graduating from Arizona State University, Robyn Benincasa accepted a pharmaceutical sales job. Benincasa was shortly thereafter caught by the triathlon bug, and went on to complete ten Ironman Triathlon s, with two podium finishes in her age group in Kona District, Hawaii. In 1995, she decided to become an adventure racer and firefighter.^[77]

Robyn won two World Adventure Races.

She holds three Guinness World Records for long-distance kayaking. Robyn completed 10 Ironman competitions and 36 "expedition length" adventure races.^[77]

Robyn has been featured on NBC, ABC, CNN, ESPN, USA Network, Discovery Channel, Today, Live With Regis, Dateline NBC, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Harper's Bazaar, Fast Company, Runner's World, and Outside.^[74]

In 2014, Robyn was named a CNN Hero for the Project Athena Foundation. Project Athena is a 501c3 non-profit foundation that helps women who have endured life-altering medical setbacks live an adventurous dream as part of their recovery. Robyn was inspired to start the foundation as a result of her own medical challenge - total hip replacements.^[74]

In the middle of the 2007 World Adventure Racing Championship in Scotland, Robyn was suddenly unable to move her right leg and fell to the ground. She got up but could not move her leg forward under its own power, so for the last three days of the race, she had to literally move her leg forward with her hand or pull it forward with a rope. Her team finished in a 6th place. When she arrived home, an orthopedic surgeon discovered she had stage 4 osteoarthritis in both of her hips. Later, she had 4 hip replacements in 5 years, first 2 replacements failed.^[76]

Robyn's best-selling book How Winning Works, published by Harlequin has been reviewed as "an excellent resource for all business owners on approaching challenges with a team mentality." In this book, Robyn shares the essential teambuilding and leadership skills that she and her teammates discovered on their quest to win "the toughest races on Earth".^[74]

Robyn is a graduate of Arizona State University with a B.S. in Marketing.^[50][77]

Robyn was born in Long Island, but spent most of her youth in Tempe, Arizona, where she competed at the state and national level in gymnastics, diving, and cross country.^[77]