Tomorrow, Queenstown personal trainer Paddy Turnhout — wearing just his togs — is going to spend a minute in an ice bath.
He’ll then increase that by a minute every single day till he goes in for 23 minutes on the day of his 23rd birthday, March 23.
Describing it as more a mental than a physical challenge, he says his aim’s to raise awareness and funds for the I Am Hope charity which helps Kiwi kids get free mental health counselling when they urgently need it.
His personal training colleague Chaz Monaghan says: ‘‘This will be a huge mental challenge for him and will create empathy for the thousands of Kiwis who are mentally struggling right now.’’
Turnhout admits some experts frown on people spending that long in freezing water ‘‘but there’s a bigger killer out there’’, he says, ‘‘and I don’t think it’s going to be ice water.’’
He started a Givealittle page yesterday, and will report each day on his challenge on Facebook page, ‘YourOptimumCondition’.
