Todd Crandell

Todd Crandell, THE ORIGINAL SOBER TRIATHLETE, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC-S) and Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor (LICDC-CS), has dedicated his personal and professional life to helping those struggling with substance abuse re-channel their destructive behaviors into positive, life affirming action. By sharing personal stories about the perils of substance abuse, best practices in prevention, and how to lead a holistic lifestyle, Crandell offers a positive alternative to those struggling to overcome a life of addiction.

His 13-year struggle with drugs and alcohol nearly destroyed his life, devastating relationships with family and friends and shattering the promise of a professional hockey career. However, through his pursuit of extreme physical fitness and personal well-being, he found a productive outlet for his once-negative energies, transforming himself into an All World Athlete (AWA) and champion for sobriety. In his pursuit of recovery, he applied his energy to pursue one the most grueling sports imaginable, the Ironman™ triathlon: A 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. Crandell ran his first triathlon in 1999 and has never looked back. Crandell has completed 122 IRONMAN events.

He has since completed over 120 IRONMAN® and Ultraman events on 6 continents and over 25 countries. Todd Crandell has chronicled his powerful mental and physical journeys in his books “Racing for Recovery: From Addict to IRONMAN” (2006), “There’s More Than One Way to Get to Cleveland” (2013), “Choices and Consequences” (2019), “Do NO Harm: Discovering the Truth and the Power Behind a Compassionate Lifestyle” (2023), “100: My IRONMAN Journey” (2023) , “Creating Todd Crandell” (2024). These lay the foundation of Crandell’s intensive out-patient group that focuses on the emotional issues and low self-esteem that leads to a choice to drug use or self-harm and how to attain and sustain sobriety through a balanced and holistic lifestyle.

In addition, his story has been highlighted in the documentaries “Addict - Racing for Recovery: The Todd Crandell Story” (2003), “Running with Demons “(2012), award winning “Pure Euphoria” (2020), “Racing for Recovery” (2024). A prolific and dynamic presenter, Crandell regularly speaks across the country to school districts, corrections facilities, drug treatment centers, community groups and other organizations. Leading with one simple message – “With Sobriety, Anything Is Possible” – Crandell’s mission is to prevent all forms of substance abuse by promoting a lifestyle of fitness, plant-based health, and well-being. As someone who has been to the depths of despair, battled addiction, contemplated suicide, yet overcame and found the willpower to succeed, this Sober Suicide Survivor is able to form an intimate connection with his audience, inspiring and changing lives at every event.

In the process of rebuilding his life, Crandell realized traditional recovery programs weren’t always enough to help people refocus their addictive drives into positive actions that break the abuse cycle. Crandell’s experiences and inspirational efforts led to the formation of Racing for Recovery™ in 2001, a federally approved 501 c-3 CARF certified non-profit organization dedicated to helping people from all walks of life prevent and overcome addiction by dealing with the root cause —trauma. A multi-faceted empowerment group, Racing for Recovery™ offers weekly support group meetings (in person as well as virtually) that are available to everyone who has been affected by addiction, which includes both the individual who is suffering from the choices of using drugs and their friends and families, along with the public at large. The meetings provide an inviting, educational, supportive, encouraging, and caring environment that each side of addiction benefits from.

Racing for Recovery™ has been featured on CNN, ESPN, BBC, The New York Times, Runner’s World Magazine, to name a few, and is known throughout the world.

The public can benefit from the empowering message that Todd Crandell and Racing for Recovery™ offer by listening to his podcast “Ignite Euphoria”, or by their public signature support group meeting every Thursday evening in person or via livestream (on Racing for Recovery’s™ Facebook and YouTube pages) from 6:30p-7:30p EST. A nutritious and delicious plant-based meal is provided for attendees at 5:30p.

Mr. Crandell’s desire to share his story of overcoming adversity worldwide is so others can find their own path for greatness. Sharing your unique gift to the world is what raises the frequency, so we all heal together and feel supported.