The Conversation (0)
Jonny Huntington has set his sights on becoming the first disabled person to ski solo in the South Pole (Sway PR)
A disabled athlete who has set his sights on becoming the first disabled person to ski solo in the South Pole hopes his journey will encourage people to strive for “ambitious goals”.
Jonny Huntington, 37, from Kingsbridge, South Devon, lost the ability to walk after he suffered a stroke in 2014, making one side of his body paralysed.
The bleed in his brain happened just eight weeks after he was commissioned into Sandhurst to become an army officer and, following the stroke, he suffered depression and considered taking his own life.
Mr Huntington said he is a passionate believer in encouraging people to have ambitious goals (Sway PR)
Mr Huntington spent two and a half years in rehabilitation and was able to walk again, and now hopes to take on the South Pole unsupported to encourage people to “be confident in their own ability”, all while raising money for charity.
“People should be absolutely confident in their own ability to do what it is they want to do,” he told the PA news agency.
“I’m a really passionate believer in encouraging people to have ambitious goals because I think it’s really important.
“Wouldn’t you rather go through life dreaming big and missing occasionally than just never trying?”
Mr Huntington said the hardest part of training is comprehending the scale of the challenge, admitting he doubted himself and described his idea as “completely nuts”.
Mr Huntington said the hardest part of training is comprehending the scale of the challenge (Sway PR)
He said: “(Going to the South Pole) has never been done by anyone with a disability before, and there is a reason for that. This is really difficult.
“I genuinely wake up on a day of the week and you just get this these flashes of doubt where you’re like, ‘Is this just completely nuts? Is this a daft idea? Am I completely deluding myself?'”
To prepare for his mammoth Antarctic challenge, which will take place in November 2024, Mr Huntington challenged himself to run from Manchester to London Tower Bridge within 11 days.
His challenge began on October 30 in Manchester, taking him through Stoke, Birmingham, Warwick, Milton Keynes, Watford and Harrow, and he will arrive at Tower Bridge in London on Thursday.
The chosen route allowed Mr Huntington to visit and speak to people involved in the charities, sponsors and schools who are supporting his cause.
He said: “(The run) would provide a challenge, would allow us the time to engage with people, and it’s places I haven’t spent a lot of time before.
The mammoth Antarctic challenge will take place in November 2024 (Sway PR)
He added that the run allowed him to visit new cities and towns across the UK for the first time.
“I think one of the important things for me about these expeditions is experiencing something new. It’s sort of a nice opportunity to do that as well,” he said.
The disabled athlete said he will also spend lots of time in the gym, on outdoor trails, and will complete 12 weeks of training in Sweden to prepare for his expedition, which he expects will take 40 days to complete.
He explained: “Antarctica is a very wild place and one of the key things, particularly because of my injury, is I have to ensure that my body is as robust as possible when I go down there, because it’s already damaged.
“I spend a lot of time dragging tyres around coast paths and beaches, which looks completely mental, but it’s the closest you get to replicating dragging a pole.”
He hopes to raise £5,000 for his chosen charities, which are the Armed Forces Para-Snowsport Team (AFPST), the Adaptive Grand Slam (AGS), and the Invictus Games Foundation (IGF).
To visit Mr Huntington’s fundraising page, go to: https://www.justgiving.com/page/jonny-huntington-m2l
To follow his journey, visit his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonnyhuntington/?hl=en
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