By Michael Melkonian
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
LOS ANGELES — Ara Khatchadourian, a renowned French-Armenian adventurer, extreme sport athlete and mountaineer who climbed the highest mountain in the world, now has his eyes set on a new challenge as he continues to conquer his “next Everest.”
Climbing Mount Everest has not been his only physical achievement.
In 2018, he ran a tri-continent marathon from Marseille to Yerevan. Khatchadourian covered 11 countries, 500 towns, and 2,685 miles in an astonishing time span of 105 days. He ran an incredible 26 miles a day without stopping for a day break. So remarkable was this achievement that he was greeted by crowds of people in Yerevan, and most notably was commended in person by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1964 to Armenian parents from Erzurum, he grew up in a community that welcomed his Armenian roots. Unfortunately, after finally finding his place in Lebanon as a jeweler, he was forced to leave at age 19 for Marseille due to the escalating Lebanese Civil War.