Eyes Wide Shut

There are few people that you meet that are truly inspirational, and maybe I’m spoilt in this regard.  A slew of my friends have gone to the Olympics. These people are all impressive in terms of their dedication, perseverance, and sheer hard work.

But Mark Pollock makes them all look like panises. Fairies. Wimpy little feebletons. Go away and cry to your mammies. Mark is the hardass.

Yeah, they’ve all endured and sacrificed for their sport, and still excelled. None of this is in dispute.  But none have overcome disabilities worse than apathy or dyslexia.

Mark, once one of the country’s most promising collegiate rowers, is now one of Ireland’s top adventure sportsmen. He makes a healthy living out of it, too, speaking to crowds about what it takes to get to the start line, never mind the finish line, of the world’s toughest races.

And Mark does it all from a darker, bleaker perspective than the rest of us. Mark is blind – fully blind. His retinas detached while he was training for intervarsity rowing, and this year he ‘celebrates’ ten years of blindness – by racing to the South Pole.

Of Course.

Read it here.