Maritime ski mountaineer sets his sights on Milan 2026

N.S. skimo athlete has Olympic aspirations Ski mountaineer Brad Farquhar has a new dream to become an Olympian.

Adventurer Brad Farquhar successfully swam the English Channel and completed the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race well before the age of 40. Now has a new dream in mind.

Farquhar raced 1,600 kilometres with a team of 14 dogs across Alaska during the 2018 Iditarod.

He credits his dog Jerry for helping him finish the race.

“I’m so thankful for him because I wouldn’t (have) been able to complete the Iditarod if it wasn’t for him. Now he came to Nova Scotia and he’s my best friend.”

The 37-year-old has also summited Denali in Alaska -- North American’s tallest mountain -- and ran 400 kilometres through the Sahara Desert.

Farquhar says he loves taking on physical challenges that push him outside his comfort zone.

“I like the pain,” he says, laughing. “I like being so uncomfortable that I want to give up and you have that little voice in your head saying, ‘just quit, just quit, just quit,’ and you just push a little harder, a little harder.”

“I’ve become addicted to it that I just want to continue doing it,” he added.

He says he now wants to continue ski mountaineering training and go to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.

Ski mountaineering is also known as “skimo.”

“You’re doing uphill, you do this little obstacle course thing, it gets so steep you have to take your skis off, throw them on your back, run up part of the hill, put your skis back on, continue skiing until you get to the top and then ski back down — fastest person that does it wins everything,” Farquhar explains.

The International Olympic Committee has approved the inclusion of skimo in the upcoming winter games with five proposed medal events.

Farquhar says it’s a very niche sport.

“It’s not all determined yet on what it takes to qualify, what countries will go, how many people will go from those countries, it’s totally up in the air if I’ll be able to make it, let alone even a Canadian is going to go,” he says.

“My goal is to put myself in the position that if that opportunity does arise, I can be the one that’s selected.”