MudGear Athlete : Rylan Schadegg
When a firefighter who speed flies, paraglides, and rock climbs tells you to live wild and die free, you listen—especially when he's backing it up with back-to-back championships and a reputation for crushing mountains most of us would rather admire from a distance. Rylan Schadegg has mastered the art of channeling controlled intensity into relentless performance, but his real superpower might be giving others permission to shine just as bright. In this exclusive deep dive with our MudGear athlete, discover how a full-time first responder balances the calculated and the fearless to dominate obstacle course racing, hybrid fitness, and endurance terrain while redefining what it means to leave it all out there.
“Live wild, die free.” Those aren’t just catchy words on Rylan Schadegg's Instagram profile. It’s how he runs. It’s how he lives. The 2022 North American Champion, 2022 Deka Fit World Champion, and MudGear athlete has too much living to do (speed flying, paragliding, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc.) to be confined by man-made walls. That’s why the Lincoln, NE, native is currently making the most of his time living in mountainous, northern Utah. On being outdoors, Rylan says, “It helps calm me… and helps me be who I feel like I’m made to be.”
It’s fascinating to watch Schadegg race. His performance is always the perfect blend of calculated and carefree. However, that doesn’t mean he’s fearless. “Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,” quoting parts of Marianne Williamson’s popular poem*, “but that we are powerful beyond imagination.” Rylan went on to explain why he connects with the poem. “Personally, I struggle with the fear of being myself. I’m afraid to shine my light brightly sometimes to other people, because I’m afraid of how they’ll view it… but when we do that, we give others permission to shine their lights as well.”
Rylan’s star is definitely shining bright in the worlds of OCR, endurance running, and hybrid fitness racing. So much so that, when he’s not competing or at his job as a full time firefighter, Rylan is coaching an impressive and growing list of clients who undoubtedly hope to learn and duplicate some of his greatest strengths; namely heavy carries, running with weights, and technical terrain.
While he’s happy to help others, Rylan Schadegg is still chasing some milestones of his own. He wants to set the FKT at Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Linkup and eventually set the FKT for the backside of Honolulu’s majestic Stairway to Heaven.
(Marianne Williamson's poem is often credited to Nelson Mandela, but both insist that it is hers.)
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