Man treks 70 miles across Welsh mountains with a fridge on his back in memory of his wife

Wales Online

2 days ago

Man treks 70 miles across Welsh mountains with a fridge on his back in memory of his wife
When Matt Jones made a bet with his late wife about trekking the Clwydian Range twice with a fridge on his back, he initially meant it as a joke
The "Fridge Freezeer Man" Matt Jones has completed an incredibly arduous trek
(Image: @Fridge_freezer_man )
Imagine hiking 70 miles across a Welsh mountain range— sounds daunting, right? Now imagine doing this with a recent hip replacement, and a nearly six stone-heavy fridge freezer on your back and it will start sounding almost impossible. Yet, this is exactly what a 42-year-old father of four did in memory of his late wife, raising thousands of pounds for charity.
Matt Jones, an ex Royal Marine Commando, took on the gruelling trek across the Clwydian Range to honour a bet he made jokingly with his late wife, Vicky Jones who tragically passed away two days before Christmas last year. She was a mother to Charlie, 13, Alistair, 11, Arayah, 8, and, Evrah, 6.
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'I was in laying in bed and was just getting educated by a surgeon who had just given me a full new hip reconstruction basically, and told me that I should be slowing down," said Matt. "He advised me I'm gonna break my body if I carry on doing what I'm doing.
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The challenge toook him through the challenging Clwydian Range
(Image: @Fridge_freezer_man )
'My wife was sat in the corner of the room laughing to herself, basically telling the surgeon you're talking to a brick wall, this man will do Llangollen Round with a fridge on his back next time.' For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
The Llangollen Round is a bi-annual event where participants take part in a 35-mile sponsored hill hike across the Clwydian Range through a route that takes them through every summit around the Vale of Llangollen. Participants can complete the challenge either in one or two days.
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'I replied instantly I'll do it twice and I'll do it with a fridge freezer on my back,' Matt continued. 'At the time I didn't probably didn't really think that I was going to fulfil the bet. It was a bit of a tongue in cheek joke back to her. We're not a normal family I would say.
'Going into November, we talked about it as a family because I said I might do the thing off and round again and she was like remember you've got to do it with a fridge freezer and the children were laughing and joking.'
Unfortunately, Vicky passed away soon after, on December 23.
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'Going into the end of January. The mountains became my church a little bit," Matt said. "I started running a little bit and getting up there and I said to the children I think I'm going to go and do the Llangollen Round and they instantly said, 'well if you're doing it you got to do it with the fridge freezer and do it twice'.'
And that is how the 'One Bet' challenge was born. Though it took a few hours of consideration, Matt was ready to fufill the bet he had made to Vicky, and started a training regiment to condition his body for the task.
Though it was initially something private that only Matt and his children knew, it became hard to keep the secret as people would often spot him train in the mountains with the fridge on his back.
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'The truth be told, for a long time, me and the children, we kept it a secret. The training started and this, this fridge freezer guy became a bit of a myth locally,' Matt explained. 'People were starting to talk saying, 'Have you heard about this guy up in the mountains with a fridge on his back?' Then it got to a point where I couldn't keep it a secret anymore.'
Matt became a local legend while he practised ahead of the challenge
(Image: @Fridge_freezer_man )
The training was not easy either, as Matt had to prepare his whole body for the seemingly insurmountable task.
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'The conditioning is called conditioning of shoulders, hips, body, the whole body so it can go repetitively so that the body could withstand it for the period,' Matt said. 'So long training, but then recovery and then very high strength endurance. That's what it is.
'Repetitive, repetitive, repetitive but then allowing the body to recover to then go to the next level. I planned my training very structured to allow me to get both my engine, my lung capacity, my heart rate to stay at a particular level, and my strength to be strong enough to carry the weight.
'So it was very much a hybrid challenge because you've got to be strong enough to carry the weight, but then obviously fit enough to do the miles.'
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The extensive training took its toll as well, but Matt was determined to see the challenge through.
'Not official yet, but it's more than likely I'll have to replace the hip again. The whole body is broken at the moment, but it'll be fine,' Matt said. 'My body was trying to go into shock a few times, it was shutting down, but mentally, my mind's telling one thing and my body's saying another.'
There was a moment when Matt and his team felt he wouldn't be able to complete the challenge, but a chance encounter with a rainbow, gave the team all the strength they needed.
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When they stopped for a rest on the first day, Matt was unsure if would be able to complete the challenge
(Image: @Fridge_freezer_man )
'There was probably one point where we were down, we were defeated, which was the end of the first day. We didn't get to where we needed to be,' Matt said. 'I could tell on a lot of people's faces, they were worried, I was worried.
'Then we had three hours sleep and we went again. The sun came up and we were traversing across the top… and a full rainbow came out above us and we all looked at each other.
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'No one said anything, we just all looked at each other, we put the music on as loud as we could, and we absolutely just went up another couple of gears.'
Another thing that inspired Matt and his children was Vicky's memories and her words.
'She was an incredible inspiring lady that had a gift of empowering people with confidence to believe in themselves' Matt said. 'She would always say you are the only you, own it, rock it, be it, embrace it, love it, be it.
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'You are the only you. She'd always say that. She would preach that into my children and others. And just give others the inner confidence to better themselves, challenge themselves, and be the best version of yourself. She was an absolutely amazing woman.'
It was this rainbow, that inspired Matt and his team when they were in a tricky spot
(Image: @Fridge_freezer_man )
The challenge has also helped raised more than £50,000 pounds for children's hospice charity, Hope House Tŷ Gobaith which Matt says was close to Vickys heart and had helped some of their family members as well.
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'Getting close to the event, obviously, there was no certainty that I would do it. It's pretty extreme,' Matt said. 'I knew very early on I'd have to go to a place physically, mentally, that I've never been before. I'm an ex Royal Marine Commando, I'm used to carrying heavy stuff on my back, long distances.
'Llangollen Round is a 36-hour event. You can do it in one day or two days. Obviously, I was trying to do it twice with a fridge freezer on my back in the 36-hour period, and we somehow… and I will say we, it was a team effort, it wasn't just me, I had a support team family allowing me to train.
'We decided to obviously raise money for Hope House, which is an amazing children's hospice charity on the borders of Wales up here. And I think the best part is we're at nearly £55,000 collectively now, which is amazing.'
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You can donate to the fundraiser in Vicky's memory by clicking here .
Though his story has spread far, Matt said that gaining attention for himself was never the motive.
'That wasn't my objective at all. It was to fulfil the bet really with the children first, secondly to spread her mantra, and thirdly to raise money for the charity,' Matt said. 'I did hold back as long as I could because I consciously didn't want to make it about myself.
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'I understand the news people are interested in the fridge freezer man, but that's not my objective. My objective is to spread what an amazing woman Vicky was.'
It was his children who motivated Matt the most.
'They're very proud. Vicky runs through them all. They're a product of her environment,' he said. 'They knew I was going to do it. They were the only ones that knew I could do it, they were the only ones throughout.
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'I had several people telling me, 'Why don't you just do it once? Trying to manage my expectations. They [his children] were the only ones that said, you're going to do this, we know you can do this.
'I think me and Vicky have always instilled in them two things, very simple: never ever be normal, never ever be boring. Love your life. We are slightly different. I know we are slightly, but they're very proud and I'm so proud of them. They're amazing.'
Matt's children joined him in the journey
(Image: @Fridge_freezer_man )
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Matt hopes his challenge can aslo inspire other to push their boundaries, something that is very important to him.
'Don't become a number. I can't think of anything worse than one day lying on my bed, hopefully, with grandchildren and my family around me in my dying days, grey and old, looking back and wishing I'd done something,' he said.
'I think that's my goal. I come from a beautiful family that have given me the ability to spread my wings and achieve as much as I can in life and that's why I want to sit there hopefully one day and say, I did as much I could, I lived,' Matt added.
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Repeating Vicky's mantra, he added: 'Everything in moderation, but I think, keep pushing, be you. It's a cliche saying this is one life, live it, but honestly, more than ever to me, it is true. Tomorrow, everything could change, couldn't it?
'If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you, okay? Say that to yourself a few times and let it sink. What is the next challenge that's going to change you? It doesn't have to be a physical challenge.
'It doesn't have to be putting the fridge freezer in your back for sure. It can be little things in little steps that challenges you to change, inspire your children to be better people.
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'My view, Vicky's view, more than anything was we're on this planet to create better people than what we are. That's our job in life, if you have children. I know my children will become better people than I am.'
Matt says he would not have made it without his team
(Image: @Fridge_freezer_man )
Though he did eventually conquer the challenge, Matt believes he would not have been able to do it without his team and his family.
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'It was a team challenge and I can't thank them enough, the role that they played, regardless of how big or how small it was, it was a team effort, from family to friends, to support team,' Matt said. 'I was a cog in a wheel, that's my job. Everyone put me in the best possible position that day to deliver.
'We had all challenges with wind and weather and fueling and a few things went wrong but we we did it because we were a team we were a unit.'