Polar
Originally published in Gloucestershire Echo, 5th April 2007
Steve Boswell is gearing up for an Arctic marathon - just months after having both hips replaced. The Army instructor has put his operations behind him to tackle his latest adventure. The challenge wouldn’t have been possible without pioneering Cotswold firm Corin. The manufacturer of orthopaedic devices, based in Love Lane Industrial Estate, Cirencester, has designed a groundbreaking metal cap and cup hip (pictured below) to allow Steve to take part in the Arctic race tomorrow.
The 39-year-old had the new design inserted in both hips after suffering osteoarthritis from doing extreme sports.
Corin’s marketing director Iain Dunbar said: “I think what Steve is doing is rather humbling. He is just one out of tens of thousands of people who have had their quality of life given back to them. But with Steve we’ve done more than that. We’ve enabled him to go back to his challenging attitude to life, so he can take part in extreme events. It’s humbling to meet him and see him getting on with his life. If you see him running he looks completely normal - you would never think he had anything wrong with him.”
Steve, who will face temperatures of -45C, said: “I have reservations, but as long as you have the mental stamina to say ‘I will do it’ then anything at all is possible.”
Corin was the first company in the world to come up with the concept of metal hip re-surfacing. The technique is used specifically for young people because the metal joint lasts much longer than the traditional metal stem and plastic ball. Corin, which employs 230 staff, provided the parts for Steve last August. It is waiting for approval to distribute the device in America.
Warrant Officer Steve oversees physical training of new recruits to the Royal Signals and Royal Engineers at an Army training regiment in Lichfield. He has already completed the Marathon de Sables - a six-day, 151-mile endurance race across the Sahara desert in Morocco. The challenge is known as the toughest foot race on earth. The 26-mile polar race will be run from a drifting North Pole camp in a circular route of two miles. The finish is at the ceremonial Pole, where all lines of longitude symbolically meet.