Mark goes beyond normal limits

MARK GOES BEYOND NORMAL LIMITS

MARK ELLIS

You can go beyond too

You don’t have to swim the English Channel to take part in a Can Too Beyond program. Choose or create your own goal event to raise money for cancer research and prevention. It can be a trail run, hike, kayaking race, triathlon, bike ride – the choice is yours!

Can Too Beyond gives you all the infrastructure and support you need to reach your fundraising goal, and there is no minimum fundraising requirement. All money raised for the Can Too Foundation supports health promotion and cancer research.

Find out more: www.cantoo.org.au/can-too-beyond

Pictured below: Mark Ellis and Kieran Gallagher post 2018 South Head Roughwater 10km + swim.

When the challenge was put to Mark Ellis to take on a Can Too Beyond goal, he blew our expectations out of the water.

The former Royal Marine chose to swim not merely from one beach suburb to another but from England to France, to raise funds for Can Too Foundation.

With his fellow Can Tooers, his wife Lizzie Crowhurst and friends Kim Cook, Glenda Hunter-Brittain, John Cadden and Grant Campbell they will swim the English Channel in a relay team in September as a Can Too Beyond goal event.

The team are swimming from 14 to 18 kilometres a week to prepare for the 21-mile (33.7 kilometre) event, in the shortest distance, in icy waters. They must also undergo a two-hour qualifying swim in sub 15.5°C water and a night swim.

Even more remarkable is that the wounded warrior has permanent leg and spinal cord injuries, he is a C3 ASIA C Tetraplegic, known as an incomplete quadriplegic.

Mark signed up for his first ocean swim with Can Too in 2010 inspired by the woman he went on a first date with who had registered for the Palm to Whale Beach program.

“I did the swim for Lizzie and my Can Too friends who were so supportive of me when I was in Royal Rehab centre in Ryde where I saw people that were doing it tougher than me.”

He also credits Can Too Champion Kieran Gallagher who paddled next to him providing nutrition and lots of bad jokes to help him complete the course in challenging conditions in 4 hours, 47 minutes.

Mark can now swim longer distances as quickly as he could before his spinal injury.

The Can Too team will be stationed in England from the 19 to 27 September 2019 to wait for the window to open when the conditions will be right to take on the mammoth task, as the tide needs to be low and weather conditions need to be right.

Mark and the team aim to fund the costs of a Can Too marathon swim pod from his English Channel Beyond goal to share with others the buzz he gets from long distance swimming.

“Ocean swimming is good for my mental health, it provides me with a sense of freedom and bizarrely a sense of safety. Water is my happy place.”

“I thought if I don’t swim too I won’t see her all summer.”

The woman became his wife and he became a marathon swimmer.

When he started with Can Too he couldn’t swim more than 50 metres. He was 45 and had not exercised for twenty years since leaving the British military with permanent leg injuries.

He focused on battling the waves to lose 42 kilograms and raised over $50,000 for the Foundation.

“I found Can Too gave me a sense of achievement and something I could do despite having a body that is pretty broken from my time in the military.”

His swim scorecard includes the Mana SwimFest 10km in Fiji, 10km+ South Head Roughwater from Bondi to Watsons Bay and the Sri Chinmoy National Capital 9km Swim.

The South Head Roughwater was particularly special as this was after he had acquired a spinal cord injury from a tragic surf accident and surgical intervention which resulted in him having to learn to walk again and spend months in a rehab centre.

CAN TOO BOOK CLUB

Are you looking for a motivational read to complete your Can Too goal? Why not start a book club with your training pod?

Coach John Doughty recommends the book “Ultra Marathon Man” – that got him into ultrarunning! The author is probably the first person to eat an entire pizza while running as well as running 262 miles – the equivalent of ten marathons – without rest.

“Whilst running Karnazes thought ‘I need a big pizza’, he just folded it up and ate it whilst running up Route 65,” says John.

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