Full of energy and eagerness, in June 2019, I did my first climb* at a weight of 87.5kg which is almost 5kg heavier than I was six months prior. I was so excited and I couldn’t wait. I knew I was going to enjoy the gruelling task ahead, and was committed to summiting. To this day, this was the hardest climb I have ever done. Despite being fitter than average, my weight and stamina were tested. Nevertheless, in 1 hour and 57 minutes, I sumitted; the feeling was indescribable. Using the PYG track, I was on top of Mount Snowdon. This was great. The day was great. I could see for miles with it being so clear. However, something was even clearer in my mind. With the knowledge that a bigger mountain would feel even better, I knew Elbrus was on Snowdon became my home ground as I came back for practice on several occasions.
An expedition to Elbrus was booked, but before the journey to Russia could begin, there was a lot of training to become fitter and lose weight. In the fitness page, the training and weight loss regime for Elbrus is detailed. There were other challenges at mind I wanted to accomplish before travelling to Russia, namely Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike. These were completed as a warm-up, leading to the “Big One”.

*In actual fact, the first ever mountain I climbed was ‘Jabal Al Noor in Makkah, Saudi Arabia’. This peak is 642 metres above sea level. This was completed twice June 2013 and April 2015.

I was born in Bangladesh but I grew up in England from the age of one. As a child, I was very athletic and a good competitor on sports day. Football was my main sport in my early life, but it wasn’t until around the age of 12 or 13, I realised I was very good at athletics. I joined the local athletics club ‘Oldham & Royton Harriers’, where I ran 100m sprints and triple jump, my favourite speciality. At the age of 14, I accomplished a personal best of 11.5 seconds in 100m sprint. Winning intermediate boys’ triple jump championship of Greater Manchester led to representation of the county at English Schools. This boosted my confidence which led to harder training.
Upon leaving school, the athletics track moved from quite far to very far and as a young teen it was extremely difficult without family support to make it to training. With the added feeling of being freedom of school ties and wanting to do whatever, I became distracted. Consequently, athletics came to a halt.
During that time, a local theatre company approached me to join some of their workshops. After attending some sessions, I enjoyed it and went onto perform several stage shows in theater all around the UK. Most notable ‘Just Before the Rain’, a stylized depiction of the race riots and consequences of the race riots of Oldham in 2001. Alongside this, I continued my education through college and university.