In April 2012 Quinton will be the first ever person with epilepsy to attempt the North Polar Challenge, a 320 nautical mile Race in teams of 3 from Northern Canada, Resolute Bay to the 1996 certified position of the North Magnetic Pole. Before the race commences Quinton will do a 65 mile 4 day expedition to the start line. Quinton will be looking to complete the race in no more than 10 days – the fastest of which was done in 9 days. Part of the race goes through what is known as Polar Bear alley, where 80% of the world’s polar bears live; the male bear weighs in approximately 350-680kg’s. The polar bear has been known when hungry to kill or even eat humans, with this in mind each team has the necessary training and equipment needed to defend themselves against potential attacks. From the start of the race there are in total 3 checkpoints, the first 2 you have to stop for a mandatory 12-24 hours to rest and re-supply taking on food and fuel for the next leg of the race; the final checkpoint is the 1996 North Magnetic Pole. At each checkpoint competitors have the opportunity to use the satellite communications tent to contact their sponsors and conduct interviews. For an insight into the Polar Challenge and the race, click here. For previous footage taken for Transworld Sport you can click here.
About quinton
- Age:
- 33
- Nationality:
- British
- Location:
- Baldock, UK
- Profession:
- Web developer
- Weight:
- 67Kg
- Height:
- 5’ 7”
- Coldest place visited:
- Kamchatka, Russia
- Coldest temperature:
- -20C
Born in 1977 to a family in Suffolk, Quinton only started to become interested in mountaineering at the age of 12 when he was taken off to the Lake District on a hiking weekend – from this day on Quinton had become passionate about the outdoors.
After scaling many of the well known UK Mountains he ventured off in 1991, at the age of 14, to become one of the first Britons to summit Mnt Bratchanka (9,000ft) in Russia, Siberia. At 15 he went and attempted to scale a volcano in Turkey for his Duke of Edinburgh Silver, in his early 20’s again went to Russia but to the Eastern Sian Mountains, and most recently to the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia where he had his first real taster of -15/-20 cold weather mountaineering, camping on a mile wide glacier climbing some of the most beautiful and inhospitable mountains surrounding the area. Quinton is a keen adventurer, who revels in a challenge and is always pushing himself to achieve something extraordinary. Even with the condition epilepsy that he has had since a young age he still looks to new challenges. From summiting mountains, to running full and half marathons Quinton now looks to the next challenge, the North Polar Challenge.
