TAGGED UNDER: Adventure & Sports

Lewis Gordon Pugh: On top of the world

Raleigh Addington
Raleigh Addington
editor at Chartwell Speakers

Lewis Gordon PughFor anyone in need of a lift during the dark days of winter, Chartwell would highly recommend an evening listening to Lewis Gordon Pugh. The first man to swim across the North Pole was speaking at the Royal Geographical Society last week and his story is nothing if not inspirational (and ever so slightly insane!).

Lewis describes how, having witnessed the effects of climate change in Norway, he came up with the idea to swim through the glacial sea to highlight what was happening to the region.

After months spent training in a swimming pool full of ice in South Africa, the tale of his final preparations in the Arctic is hugely impressive. The actual swim, for which Lewis wore no more than a pair of Speedos, took place in water of -1 degrees Celsius – bearing in mind that a swimming pool is usually well over +20 degrees, this is cold!

No-one in the auditorium that night could fail to be impressed by Lewis’s incredible determination and wonderful story-telling ability.

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