RECORD-BREAKING ADAPTIVE ADVENTURER
This December, multi-record-breaking adaptive adventurer Darren Edwards will attempt a new world record by completing the longest sit-ski expedition in the history of polar exploration to raise money to find a cure for Spinal Cord Injury.
Paralysed from the chest down and operating at the absolute limit of what is possible for someone with a high-level Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Darren’s epic attempt to reach the South Pole will see him sit-ski 222 kilometres in just 20 days in -30 degree temperatures. Currently, the furthest distance travelled by a sit-ski to reach the South Pole is 111 kilometres, making this a gargantuan undertaking.
Starting at 88° South and ending at 90° South, the Geographical South Pole, Darren will be supported by a team of adventurers made up of British Explorer Lucy Shepherd, Chief Scout Dwayne Fields and award-winning film maker Matthew Biggar.
Antarctica is a dangerous place for anyone, let alone someone with a high-level Spinal Cord Injury. Skiing through the day and camping at night, the team will be unsupported, facing the risk of extreme temperatures, altitude sickness, exhaustion, and adverse environmental conditions including sastrugi, high winds, snowstorms, and crevasses.
Yet beyond the immense physical and logistical challenges, this expedition carries a deeper purpose. Darren’s mission is not only to break records but to break down barriers, challenge perceptions of disability and empower others to redefine the impossible in their own lives.
Darren hopes to raise £100,000 for the charity ‘Wings for Life’ which seeks to find a cure for Spinal Cord Injury, and funds research and clinical trials globally – with astonishing results.
Darren completing the World Marathon Challenge in Antarctica in 2022
Previous record-breaking challenges undertaken by Darren Edwards since he was paralysed at the age of 26 include:
- In April 2023, Darren was part of the first adaptive team to cross Europe’s largest Ice Cap, the mighty Vatnajokull in Iceland. Alongside Ed Jackson and Niall McCann, the team of three individuals with Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) overcame huge challenges to complete their epic unsupported journey in just 11 days.
- In October 2022, Darren became the first person to complete the World Marathon Challenge using a wheelchair – the iconic challenge of running seven marathons in seven days on seven different continents. More people have stood on the summit of Everest than have completed this gruelling logistical, physical and psychological test.
- In May 2022 Darren became the first adaptive adventurer to lead a crew of six on the epic undertaking of rowing across the English Channel (23 nautical miles across the busiest shipping lane in the world) in aid of suicide prevention charities across the UK and in memory of his father who took his own life in September 2021
- In June 2021 Darren became the first person with a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) to Kayak 1,400 kilometres from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’ Groats in Scotland. He also led a team of five injured and wounded veterans during the challenge.
INTRODUCING DARREN EDWARDS
Darren Edwards is a former mountaineer and Army Reservist who sustained a life-changing injury in the summer of 2016. The near-fatal climbing accident would leave Darren permanently paralysed from the chest down. With determination, grit and positivity, Darren has overcome adversity by becoming an Adaptive Adventurer, Expedition Leader and Motivational Speaker.
On the 6th of August 2016, Darren Edward’s life changed forever. Whilst rock climbing in North Wales, a section of rock unexpectedly shifted below his feet and Darren was sent tumbling uncontrollably toward his climbing partner 100ft below.
The injury Darren sustained would leave him instantly paralysed from the chest down and with a severe spinal cord injury. Darren had been incredibly lucky to survive. Yet, as he was prepared for aerial extraction by the Mountain Rescue, Darren made an important and life-changing commitment to himself. He would not be beaten.
Darren Edwards is a living testament to the boundless capabilities of the human spirit. Surviving a devastating, life-changing climbing accident that very nearly claimed his life, and could so easily have destroyed his spirit, Darren has instead used it as a catalyst for growth.
What followed his accident was an arduous five-month journey through intensive care, surgery, and rehabilitation. Whilst Darren was able to come to terms with the events of that day, it would be accepting the limitations and implications of his disability that would require genuine grit and resilience.
Darren has pushed himself at each stage of his rehabilitation to come back stronger and to prove what can be achieved by someone with a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and disability. Adventure has very much been at the heart of Darren’s recovery. Since first dreaming of learning to kayak as a way in which he could continue to explore the great outdoors, Darren has gone on to train as part of Great Britain’s Paracanoe Team, to pioneer adaptive freediving in the UK, and in 2021, to become the first disabled person to kayak from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’ Groats in Scotland – a distance of over 1,400 kilometres.
Now, a record-breaking adaptive adventurer, Darren has redefined the limits of what is thought possible for an individual with a Spinal Cord Injury.
Darren Edwards is represented by Wolfsong Media, one of the UK’s leading independent talent and literary agencies specialising in adventure, exploration and the great outdoors. www.wolfsongmedia.co.uk
THE SOUTH POLE CHALLENGE TEAM
Darren Edwards’s life changed in 2016 when a near-fatal climbing accident left him permanently paralysed from the chest down. Since then, he has kayaked the length of Britain, run 7 marathons across 7 continents in 7 days, skied across the largest icecap in Europe and rowed the English Channel.
Lucy Shepherd is redefining what it means to be an explorer in the modern world. Her expeditions have taken her to some of the most inhospitable parts of the world. She documents these adventures, with the latest being broadcast on Channel 4, which tells the story of her pioneering expedition across the unexplored Amazon rainforest.
Dwayne Fields is the UK’s Chief Scout and a record-breaking adventurer. Dwayne has trekked to the North Pole and taken part in a series of expeditions in Antarctica, most recently with Ben Fogle as part of Channel 5’s ‘Endurance: Race to the Pole’ TV series.
Matthew Biggar is an award-winning filmmaker and an accomplished endurance athlete. A former Army Reservist and Police Officer, after a life-changing sporting injury, Matthew began to build a successful career as a Strength and Conditioning Coach. Matthew will be proactively documenting the challenging nature of the expedition.
WINGS FOR LIFE
There are an estimated 50,000 people in the UK living with a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and each year approximately 2,500 people are newly injured. Globally, more than 300,000 people suffer an SCI each year (World Health Organisation). It can happen to anyone at any time, and the impact lasts a lifetime.
Spinal Cord Injury is a truly life-changing injury, one which affects more than just one’s ability to walk, but all functionality below the injury site (bladder, bowels, sexual function, immunity, temperature control etc).
Wings for Life fund the world’s most promising scientific research and clinical trials around the globe, aimed at finding a cure for spinal cord injury. Since its inception in 2004, Wings for Life has funded more than 270 research projects worldwide, including six major clinical trials, and a number of vital breakthroughs have been made. There is now real and legitimate hope spinal cord injury can be cured in a generation.
As Wings for Life are supported by Red Bull, they promise that 100% of every donation receives goes directly to research. UK Registered Charity no: 1138804. www.wingsforlife.com.
