Jenny Wordsworth – Polar Thigh & Perseverance

Jenny is a lawyer and endurance athlete for The North Face. She’s also a Polar Ambassador to the U.K and uses that role to advocate for the protection of Antarctica. In 2019 Jenny skied from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole battling perhaps the worst case of polar thigh ever seen. Join us for a story of grit, perseverance and inspiration!

Jenny has travelled and raced some of the most arduous and renowned endurance events in the world such as the marathon de sables the artic ultra and the gobi ultra.

Jenny is a dedicated champion of female participation in sport working with a number of charities to inspire women and girls across the globe to participate in physical activity and adventure. She also operates a non-profit to encourage more women into the world of adventure.

In this session, she recounts her attempt to break the world record for the fastest solo, unsupported and unassisted ski from the coastline of Antarctica to the South Pole in 2018 – an expedition that ended in medical evacuation with peritonitis. In November 2019, she returned to Antarctica to finish what she started and she will tell us more about the lessons learnt along the way including her experience with the dreaded Polar Thigh Her story is one of grit and single-minded determination. Even though her leg was becoming necrotic and intensely painful she pushed on against medical advice to achieve her goal. We explore what drives her and also, was this really a sensible decision?