'Most people think I'm mad' - York man's extreme sport journey

A man from York has been taking part in the "UK's toughest endurance races".

Jack Harrison, 27, is a helicopter engineer from Shipton by Beningbrough. In June last year, he decided to take on as many endurance challenges as he could.

"It was kind of just a challenge I set myself," he said.

"You see people doing these crazy races and I always wondered what it is in the back of the head that makes them do that."

In the space of a year Jack managed to run a 100km race, climb Mont Blanc, sail in the Arctic circle, kayak in a 125 mile race, complete an iron man and cross-country ski a 90km race - to name a few.

Jack completed a 9 hour mountain bike race (Image: Supplied) But most of the races Jack took part in came shortly after trying out the sport for the first time.

"I just picked all the endurance sports and I thought I’ll find the hardest challenge I can do in that and just go for it," he said.

"With kayaking, for example, most people have been in a kayak so I thought I’d be okay but the racing kayaks are so different.

"The first three days of training was just trying to stay in the thing without falling out."

Jack in his racing kayak (Image: Supplied)

Whilst taking up a new sport every month can be an expensive task, Jack said that through a combination of finding second hand items, and borrowing items off friends, there's "always a way" to make it affordable.

However, he conceded that "trying to move all the kit around the country has kind of been a logistical nightmare".

Some of his longer ventures, such as his sailing trip from Iceland to Greenland, and then onto the Arctic circle, require Jack to take time off work. But the majority of activities he fits into his weekends.

"Most people think I’m mad," he said.

Sailing in the Arctic circle (Image: Supplied)

He wanted to encourage others to embark on similar adventures.

"A lot of people when you tell them what you do they just don’t quite comprehend. But for me it was just curiosity to be like ‘what would it actually take’ to do this sort of stuff.

"A lot of the reason some people don’t do these events is just because they don’t quite believe in themselves.

"I’m not saying it’s a sustainable thing, but looking back on it, it has been an amazing experience."