International Mankini Challenge

I first met Dave Cornthwaite at a friend’s flat in London. He was crashing on the sofa whilst promoting his first book, Boardfree, the epic tale of his world record breaking 5 month journey skateboarding across Australia.

Like a lot of people who leave University, I had gone into a graduate scheme at a large corporation in London. Again, like a lot of ‘young executives’ in London, after the two year honeymoon period I dreamed of getting out of London and doing ’something else’. Meeting Dave was an inspiration, I’m not embarrassed to say that; here was a guy who had gone out and done something different. He hadn’t just dreamed about it on the tube on his way to work, he’d actually got up off his arse and achieved something.

I think this is where maybe the first seeds of the International Mankini Challenge were sown. Although at this point I had no idea that in less than two years I’d be heading off to Latin America with a green string, I did know that I wanted to do something different and challenging, that I could look back on and either be proud of or could laugh about. I don’t have the mental amplitude to do a physical challenge and so I knew then that it would have to be something that required daring and cheek (no pun intended) rather than months of training.

I’m sure there are people who can relate to this. We spend more time putting barriers in our way by giving reasons as to why we can’t do something than thinking about how we can achieve it. There’s a great Brazilian writer called Paulo Coelho who in his book, ‘The Pilgrimage’, talks about this common human trait of giving up our dreams through the self justification of ‘maturing’. It’s well worth a read as I can’t do it justice!

Anyway, as a personification of someone who refuses to ‘mature’ conventionally, Dave is soon to embark on yet another challenge. He intends to paddle over 9000 miles in two years in The Great Big Paddle. I hope you’ll join me in supporting him on his latest quest.