Kilimanjaro 2006 - Mission Statement
"Through extreme endeavor and close teamwork to successfully undertake a supreme challenge and thus extend the boundaries of paraplegic adventurous pursuits."
The 2006 Kilimanjaro expedition had three key aims:
- To reach a height of over 16,040 ft and thus achieve a new world record for the highest vertical ascent under arm power
- To set a new world record for Great Britain by being the first to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro under arm power.
- To raise awareness in the field of paraplegic adventurous pursuits (see below).
Background to 2006 Kili Attempt
The last decade has seen paraplegic sports grow hugely in popular appeal. The Paralympics is now fully televised and Tani Grey-Thompson, the most successful Paralympian of all time, is practically a household name.
Growing alongside this is the paraplegic outdoor pursuit’s movement. Charities like ‘Back Up’ offering tasters and introductions into this world are proving increasingly popular. Paraplegic rock climbers such as Brad Zdanivsky have achieved amazing feats of human endeavour, scaling thousands of feet with the use of only their arms and shoulders.
Endurance Sports
Join these two worlds of endurance sport and serious outdoor pursuits and you find yourself in the painful land of ultra endurance events. This is the area in which I love to play. Having completed the commando course twice, I am no stranger to a little suffering and relish challenges hardship brings.
Until very recently this has been an arena that has been mostly closed to adaptive athletes due to a lack of equipment. Super quick road hand-bikes were being built and raced around the world, awesome examples of modern engineering, low in profile, streamlined and extremely energy-efficient machines. The only way to access the countryside however used to be on upright, battery-assisted, cumbersome models.
The Race is on
But not long ago a guy working out of Boston, USA, designed an amazing piece of off-road, arm-powered technology, which opens up a world that was previously closed to serious athletes.