Jon Ingarfield: my journey to Everest
Welcome to my first blog post about my journey to Everest!
What I am doing
In April 2019, myself and 21 others (including Wales record try scorer Shane Williams, England World Cup winner Andy Gomarsall, England international and World Cup finalist Tamara Taylor and England Sevens legend Ollie Phillips) will take on the Wooden Spoon Everest Challenge!
It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to Everest and be part of the Guinness World Record attempt to play the highest ever game of full contact Rugby and mixed touch rugby game at over 6,000m. Personally it’s a privilege to be involved in this challenge but the reason we are doing this is to raise vital money to change the lives of children throughout the UK and what better reason is there than that!
So far I have contacted a lot of companies both locally and nationwide about becoming sponsors of this unique challenge and although some are considering, I have had a few rejections. There are various reasons for this but I’m sure there are some out there who wants to get involved and help these children who need it!
If you are a business or individual who would like to contribute towards my sponsorship, please contact me on Joningarfield39@gmail.com and I can offer you a unique opportunity to be associated with an unbelievable challenge in an amazing landscape. Through my personal and business social media platforms, along with the internationally recognised Wooden Spoon social media accounts, you will get great coverage of your support throughout the build up and challenge and even get your companies logo at the highest mountain on Earth!
About me
I am a 34 year old Rugby coach living in Hampshire, England but originally from Port Talbot, Wales. I live with my soon to be wife Amelie, my five year old daughter Ivy and my crazy dog Ernie.
I have spent the last 10 years of my working life coaching rugby (if you can call being a rugby coach work) to children of all ages in various places throughout the South of England. I currently own and run a Rugbytots franchise, Rugbytots Chichester & Portsmouth and also a community coach with Harlequins and will start a new role as DPP coach with London Irish later this year.
Training
Through my day “job” I regularly cover large distances while delivering active sessions but I know I will have to up my training. I regularly attend The Gym – Fratton in Portsmouth about three times a week and am working on strength and conditioning programme to build my ability to walk distances at high altitude. To aid this training I recently purchased an Altitude training mask from FDBRO and despite looking like Bane from Batman it is proving effective!
To look after my recovery during training I have the support of Up and Running Sports Injury Clinic in Portsmouth. I’ve been going to these guys for 18 months for the odd adjustment and can’t recommend them highly enough.
For the next few weeks where my schedule is slightly different to normal, I will continue to attend the gym build on my base levels and try to get a few trekking miles in regularly each week to get the body use to it. Not sure how the dog will feel about this extra walking though!
That’s it for this week.
Hopefully this has been a good read, even if it was on the toilet, and I hope you come back for the next post. Please share this as myself and Wooden Spoon are looking to raise the profile of the challenge.
If you would like to donate to my fundraising target, please go to my fundraising page and follow my adventures on Jon’s Wooden Spoon Everest Challenge Blog.
Take it easy, Jon
