Run in the Dark's Mark Pollock: 'I don't know what the next South Pole is yet'

Sudden onset blindness spurred Mark Pollock to become an adventure athlete, and when a fall from a second-story window damaged his spinal cord he had a new mission — to cure paralysis. Now, as he calls a day on his Run in the Dark global fundraiser, he tells Noel Baker about his next chapter

Mark Pollock, pictured at the Fitzwilliam Hotel, Dublin. Photograph Moya Nolan

For a man who has spent his entire life moving inexorably forward, Mark Pollock finds himself pausing, just a little, and checking the signposts. It’s taking a little getting used to.

Now 49, Co Down-born Mark has had a truly extraordinary life, where huge setbacks have been repurposed as challenges to be overcome.