When Brant Garvey was born with half his right leg missing, doctors had a message for his parents: “Be prepared that he’s not going to be able to do things that other kids can do”.

Today, he is training to conquer the world’s toughest race.

Triathlons are tough. Extreme triathlons like the ironman are tougher. Then there is the Norseman.

Held in Norway every August, the ironman-calibre race begins with an icy swim through a frigid fjord.

You then have to undertake a 180-kilometre bike ride halfway up a mountain, followed by a 42km run — the last stretch of which is a brutal scramble over a rocky pass.

If you’re the best in the world, you might finish it after 10 hours of hell.

The race represents the summit of Garvey’s ambition, but is something most people would barely fathom even attempting.

But his entire life has prepared him for this occasion.

Garvey said he hoped to inspire others to scale their own mountains one step at a time.

“If I can get someone to go, ‘wait a minute, if I can push myself slightly harder than what I thought was possible’, then I’ve done my job.”

Source
Evan Morgan Grahame
ABC News