Jon Cook, para athlete and senior oarsman with Dover Rowing Club, has successfully completed his Para Arch to Arc Challenge, despite challenging conditions. Cook was aiming to raise funds for Aspire, the Spinal Injuries Association, Wheelpower and Dover Rowing Club, as these organisations supported him following surgery to remove a rare form of tumours from his spinal cord in 2016, which left him an incomplete T6 paraplegic. Cook joined Dover Rowing Club to continue his rehabilitation after several months in hospital and at the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He arrived wheelchair bound but strengthened his body to allow him to walk with a crutch through training on rowing machines, before subsequently racing in CARA Regattas.

Cook’s Challenge was to hand bike from London’s Marble Arch to Dover, row the equivalent of the English Channel, and hand bike from Calais to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; a total of 290 miles. A hand bike is much slower than a road bike and therefore, with the Para Arch to Arc never having been completed before in this way, understanding the potential timing and routing was based on estimates and guesswork.

The challenge started at 06:10 on August 14th with Cook and his support crew leaving central London, initially with additional riders from Dover’s London based rowers. An unexpected issue quickly impacted progress as many London cycle paths contain periodic chicanes or street furniture which his hand bike couldn’t negotiate. This forced Cook to re-enter the main traffic flow as he sought to escape London before the traffic built up too heavily. As he progressed he was accompanied by Dover’s Captain, Will Coleman, who could cycle with him whilst the support vehicles moved around cycle only routes. Coleman’s presence proved critical to enable progress past concrete blocks used to prevent vehicles entering bike only routes. The other and most concerning issue was the heat, with temperatures soon reaching mid 30’s centigrade. This was compounded with ground reflected heat pushing the temperature to high 30’s on the low sitting hand bike. Cook’s disability impacts his ability to regulate body heat which added pressure to him, and his family and friends, as his welfare was critical. Additional breaks were planned to support hydration and monitor his wellbeing. The early stages remained on track but, as time went on, the heat started taking it’s toll. It became clear that the planned 19:00 finish was drifting and Cook was in for a long and gruelling day. The climb from Faversham to Rough Common proved particularly challenging. After a longer break, and with the temperature finally beginning to fall, Cook soldiered on eventually arriving in Dover at 23:13, where he was met by family and friends from Dover and Herne Bay Rowing Clubs.

Day 2 was intended to be a row to the middle of the channel in a Quad Scull with Cook’s teenage daughter Ella, Coleman, Tom Stothart coxed by Lee Stampton. Middle channel conditions meant the Channel equivalent row had to be the fallback. As Cook’s crew started rowing circulating the harbour with Blue Dragon in support, Wetwheels went to assess the conditions at the harbour entrance and along the coastline towards Folkestone. With both support boats in tow Cook’s crew broke free of the harbour and headed towards Folkestone. Strong rowing built up the miles as they passed Samphire Hoe before returning for the hard push into the harbour, before conditions deteriorated. Lining up correctly for the run was critical and they executed the hard push professionally, returning to the safety of the port. So strong were the challenging conditions and wave strength that a satnav crash notification was triggered to Stampton’s wife. Finishing off the remaining miles within the port a tired but successful crew landed safety in front of the rowing club where helpers supported an exhausted Cook up the beach. A delay with the ferries meant that his plan to take the head off the longer Calais to Paris leg was reduced to a solid 22 miles.

Day 3 saw reality hit as the heat of day 1 had left lingering effects. Cook made the difficult decision to abandon the planned 02:00 start and convert the French leg to two days. Leaving Boulogne he cycled out intent on reaching the half way point to Paris. There were some long hills that were slow grinds for Cook interspersed with some clear roads as he pushed towards Abbeville. The day’s steady pacing allowed him to recover and an early night set him up for the final 93 mile leg to Paris.

Starting early on day 4, Cook headed off, with Coleman in support, aiming firstly for Auberge de Monceaux. He started ticking off the checkpoints and was progressing well despite more hills. Moving on to Beauvais confidence was growing as Cook was moving well and, passing through the Prefecture of Oise with Coleman, reduced the distance to 47 miles. The next major settlement was Attainville with around 17 miles to go. It was here that the French Police stopped Cook and raised concerns over his safety. This could have been a real threat to his completion of the challenge but a conversation persuaded the Gendarmerie that, given the distance already travelled, he was safe to proceed. Racing through the suburbs of Paris, and dodging parked cars blocking cycle lanes, the lights of the Arc de Triomphe came into view for Cook as he swung onto the roundabout to complete his challenge. Cook was embraced by his family and friends as he completed this unique and epic challenge. He stated: ‘I wanted to raise money for several charities that helped me in my personal journey to recovery, and didn’t want to let anyone down. It was incredibly tough but we were determined to complete the journey, and I’m so proud of myself and my team.’

Cook is hoping to raise £10,000 to be split between the four organisations Aspire, Spinal Injuries Association, WheelPower and Dover Rowing Club. Para Arch to Arc challenge in aid of Aspire, Spinal Injury Association, WheelPower and Dover Rowing Club – GiveWheel