Disabled Shropshire adventurer to take on marathons

Darren Edwards is paralysed from the chest down

A disabled adventurer is to take on a challenge to complete seven marathons over seven days on seven continents.

Darren Edwards suffered a life-changing spinal cord injury while mountain climbing in North Wales in 2016 and was left paralysed from his chest down.

Since then, he has been part of the British para-canoe squad and has taken on challenges from Land's End to John O'Groats and across the channel.

In October, he will take on the 777 World Marathon Challenge.

Mr Edwards was an army reservist and preparing to start his first job as a history teacher in Shrewsbury when, while mountaineering and descending down an exposed 120ft (37m) rockface, the rocks shifted under his footing and he fell more than 30ft (9m).

Mr Edwards said he was determined after his injury to keep looking forward

He said he was determined his injury would not define him, and decided to "look forward rather than looking back".

"I've tried to take adversity and turn it into something positive and for me adventure became that kind of saving grace," he said.

"The thing that really kept me mentally strong and physically strong was just trying to challenge what I thought I could achieve with my injury."

The marathon challenge sees participants attempt to complete the distances over 168 hours across 7 continents, travelling from Antarctica, to Africa, to Australia, to Asia, to Europe, to South America and concluding in North America.

Mr Edwards has to complete each marathon within six hours

Mr Edwards will be raising money for the Armed Forces Para-snowsports Team, a charity who support wounded, injured and sick military personnel, and hopes to raise £100,000 on his Darren's World Marathon Challenge Justgiving page.

He said he agreed to the challenge despite never completing a marathon before and has had to plan adaptations to manage the different conditions in each location.

"Training has gone really well," he said.

"Even if I finish last of all the runners I will still be the first person to cross the finish line on wheels."