Ten years ago Justin Miles was in a near fatal car accident. Overnight he went from being a healthy, carefree 26-year-old fitness trainer to not being able to walk or talk. It would be a long road to wellness.
But as he began the challenge of recovery that would defy doctors’ expectations, Justin set himself another challenge that in ten years time he would set out on an unaided mission to the South Pole, something that has never been achieved by anyone, let alone a man who according to medical opinion was confined to years of rehabilitation.
Today, at 37 and fully recovered, Justin displays that same determinism as he prepares for an Antarctic journey with 47-year old business consultant and explorer, John Wilton-Davies.
“John and I are very confident that we will succeed. Failure for us really isn’t an option. In fact, we’re so confident that we haven’t considered it at all!” says Justin.
The Last Great Challenge
the 1,382-mile journey will be the longest unsupported polar trek in history.
Justin and John will begin their 1,382-mile journey, the Last Great Challenge as they have dubbed it, across the bleak terrain of the Antarctic in early November. From the time they land on the snowy continent they will have 77 days to make it to the pole and back. Providing they don’t have any weather problems getting there in the first place, that is.
Despite the two adventurers’ optimism, Justin says: “If the weather is bad and delays our flight out from Chile to the coast of the Antarctic then we have less time to complete the trek and that could get just a little bit tough.”
The pair have been preparing for this expedition for two years. Their training regime has been meticulously constructed so that they reach the peak of their physical fitness at the beginning of their journey. Training involves working in cycles to help the body adapt to the exercise and at the same time avoid injuries.
Unlike most Antarctic explorers, John and Justin have decided not to put on weight to sustain themselves through their arduous journey, believing that being as fit as possible will serve them better than carrying additional weight around as well as a 180kg sled.
To keep their bodyweight up as much as possible they will have the tricky task of trying to consume 8,000 calories a day. Not only will this be a lot of food to carry, but it will also be difficult to actually eat that much food every day.
John Witon-Davies in the Antarctic
John will also bring previous experience with him as he has been to Antarctica once before in 2004 when, during a self-professed midlife crisis he set out on his own and unaided, traveling 1,000km in 60 days.
During his journey he fell into a crevasse (an invisible hole in the ice that forms when the heat from the ground melts the ice, they can be hundreds of feet deep). It was an experience that gave him nightmares for weeks and one the explorers hope not to repeat.
But despite the struggles that the adventurers face out on the ice, for Justin this journey represents the overcoming of an even bigger struggle, that of recovery.
“It feels amazing to finally be on the brink of turning the dream that helped me through recovery into a reality,” he says.
“The ten year journey has been quite an interesting and testing time, one that saw the end of my marriage, several forced career changes because of my injuries and a ‘battle within’ to regain control.”
The car accident on March 3 1999 left Justin with broken bones and a serious head injury which made him unable to walk or talk. Determined not to give up, he set about teaching himself how to function again and in nine short months Justin was physically healed, a feat that amazed doctors who believed it would take years to just partially recover.
But the accident also dramatically altered Justin’s cognitive behaviour and it would be his emotional and mental recovery that challenged him the most and would take him the longest amount of time to overcome.
Ten years down the line however, Justin can say that he is fully recovered and ready to face the last great challenge.
Leading by Example
While Justin and John are battling the perils of Antarctica they will be joined in solidarity by school children around the UK who will be taking on their own challenges.
Part of Justin’s dream formed after his accident was to teach young people about the importance of being physically active. This has been achieved through the Great Heart Challenge, a healthy lifestyle initiative created in partnership with local education authorities that will be run in 38,000 schools around the country in September and October.
“Educating young people about health is very important,” says Justin. “I’ve spent a while working with cardiac rehabilitation patients and it is frustrating to see so many people so ill when it can be easily avoided by making small changes to lifestyle.
“For adults in most cases our habits are here to stay, but if we can affect the thoughts and habits of younger generations then we can make a positive difference to their lives.”
The Great Heart Challenge encourages children to get active using the key words ‘challenge’ and ‘adventure’. Justin stresses that an adventure doesn’t have to be an expedition to forgotten corners of the world, but simply something that takes the participant out of their comfort zone, whether this is climbing a mountain or gaining a new belt in karate.
Already students at pilot schools have completed climbing and cycling challenges and gone on kayaking and waking adventures.
Furthermore, the program will be multi-disciplinary covering physical education, nutrition, science and geography as students follow John and Justin through their challenge and learn about the Antarctic and the issues it faces such as climate change and pollution.
“The Great Heart Challenge is actually part of our motivation for spending a couple of months in the coldest place on Earth,” Justin says. “The core of the challenge is to inspire kids to get active and another benefit of it, as we have seen through working with a school in Wiltshire, is that it can give kids who don’t fit the linear education programme a chance to shine through another medium.”
Justin Miles at the Eiffel Tower, having ridden from Trafalgar Square for charity, Just For The Ride.
With their own great challenge just on the horizon, Justin and John are taking part in all manner of smaller challenges as they prepare for the big one. John has recently taken part in the Marathon des Sables in Morocco and Justin has just completed a cycling trip from the UK to the Eifel Tower. With true determinism, Justin jumped straight on his bike from a hospital bed after he hit his face on a metal bar a few days before his trip and has since arrived in Paris in good spirits.
As each smaller challenge brings them closer to their Antarctic adventure, Justin and John are excited about claiming a new title for Britain.
“The thing I’m really looking forward to is arriving back in Chile and cracking open a bottle of wine with John having completed the expedition,” Justin says.
But completion will also be bittersweet in Justin’s eyes. He adds: “My biggest fear is how I will fill the void left by a project which has totally consumed my life for two years.”
What does a man do who has completed the last great challenge? Watch this space…
To find out more about the Last Great Challenge and the Great Heart Challenge including sponsorship opportunities visit www.lastgreatchallenge.com
Find more about Justin Miles here
Tune into Beat in the new year to see how Justin and John did on their adventure.
By Hannah Masters-Waage
Resident environmental reporter
More from Hannah can be found on her blog
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