Kevin Whitcher
Some of you may be aware of Paul Smith, a wheelchair bound Arsenal supporter who undertakes exhausting treks in his wheelchair to raise money for charity. In the past this has been Arsenal’s nominated charity of the season, currently it’s the Great Ormond Street Hospital and Save the Children.
Details of some of his past efforts, Challenge 100, Challenge 200, Challenge 300 and Challenge Emirates can be read at your leisure by clicking on the links above.
Unfortunately, although in the past Paul, a season ticket holder at Arsenal, was able to raise money on matchdays at the stadium, the club no longer allow this, but nevertheless he is undertaking one final challenge – Challenge Gibraltar – in which he will take on the Rock of Gibraltar in his wheelchair this weekend.
Paul will push himself in his wheelchair from the bottom to the top of the Rock. The start is in the dockyard and the finish is under the cable car station at the top. The Rock is the hardest road race in the world, 2.8 miles of very steep roads zig zagging all the way up. When Paul was in the Royal Navy, before he suffered a car accident that saw him unable to walk, he ran the Rock Race 12 times, holding the world record for 24 hours and only beaten by 2 seconds.
If you want to read more about Paul’s life and the experiences he has been through both before and after his accident, there is an excellent interview with him here.
Additionally, during his training for this task between Christmas and New Year, he was the victim of what appears to be a deliberate hit and run incident, for which the culprit has never been found. Details of that can be read here.
This is Paul’s final charity challenge, so we are giving it some publicity in the hope that he can raise a decent sum of money. If everyone who reads this donated just £1, it would mean a few thousand quid to add to the total amount raised.
Donations can be made through Paul’s fundraising page and for up to date details and plenty of photos of his preparation for the challenge, his twitter feed is @ChallengerGib
Good luck this weekend to Paul, and here’s hoping you raise a potload of money for the two charities.
