JoGLE in Memory of Sdn Ldr Ant Downing

On the 22nd December 2011 Sdn Ldr Anthony Downing was seriously wounded when the vehicle he was travelling in was caught in an explosion south of Kabul. Ant was flown back to the UK where sadly he died of his wounds at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

Ant was my brother, an exceptionally good man and an inspiration to so many, myself included. From an early age he tried to push himself to see what he was capable of. Whilst he was at school he competed in endurance events in running and cycling and as an adult went on to such feats as cycling across America in 25 days a number of Iron Man competitions and completed a Double Iron Man too.

At his funeral the idea of retracing his wheel tracks on a ride across the USA was talked over with many of Ant's friends. I said on a number of times I would like to give it a go. This ride however is not quite so ambitious; it is a training ride to see if I have it within me to cycle long distances. Ant completed the Lands End to John O' Groats trip on his own in 1999. The journey should be approximately 874 miles, hence the target for the fund-raising. My friend Chris Tremblett and I shall be doing the journey in September the other way around mainly due to logistical reasons.

We have been told on a number of occasions that going North to South is the awkward way to do it as we will be pedalling into the wind every day. However, Scotland is high up on the map and Cornwall is at the bottom so although it's a long way it will all be down hill. How hard can it be?


Very, I suspect...

Thursday 6 September 2012

T Minus 9 Days

My family had a meeting with the Squadron Ant was attached to in Poole yesterday where we learnt much about Ant's last few days. Although he was faced with challenging work in Afghanistan he was making a difference, enjoying himself and surrounded by people who trusted, respected and enjoyed his company. We learned that in the seconds after the incident many courageous people both British and Afghan went immediately to his aid and everything that could have been done to help him was carried out by his friends and colleagues.

Despite all the attention he received ultimately the injuries to him were not survivable. However knowing that he was surrounded and looked after by people who cared for him who did everything humanly possible to keep Ant with us has provided a lot of comfort to my parents and I. We will forever be in their debt.

There was a lot of information to take in and many things I need to think about, but I've a feeling that during the two weeks and 900ish miles Chris and I have on the bikes to look forward to I'll have time for a bit of a ponder...
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1 comment:

  1. Vicki8 September 2012 at 16:57

    What a lovely entry in your Blog and how thoughtful of you to share this experience, as I'm sure it will bring comfort to Ant's friends who are reading this Blog and following your journey.

    ReplyDelete

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