A CHIPPENHAM man who was told he might never be able to walk because of a rare condition is not letting his disability affect him, as he looks to swim 50km for a national challenge.

Bart Gee has eight weeks to swim the distance as part of the Road to Rio challenge, which aims to get people covering the distance from London to Rio in the build-up to the Olympic Games.

The 34-year-old has suffered from arthrogryposis since birth, a condition where joint contractures are in two or more areas of the body which severely affect his movement.

“I have very restricted arm movement so it takes me a lot longer than an able-bodied person to swim,” said Mr Gee, who lives in Draycot Cerne.

“One kilometre takes around 55 minutes so it will be quite a challenge, it’s something that I wanted to do partly to help with my fitness but I’m always looking for challenges.

“I started swimming when I was eight-years-old, I had a really good swimming teacher and for the first lesson I was wearing a life jacket.

“At the end of the lesson he told me to take my life jacket off and swim down the deep end, which really pushed me out of my comfort zone.”

Born in Bristol, Mr Gee moved to Chippenham six years ago and works for his brother’s financial services, but has recently started giving speeches on his condition.

“It’s quite rare, the doctor said shortly after I was born that he knew one other person in Bristol with it,” added Mr Gee.

“I go around church and schools talking about my disability and when I go in and speak I really try and motivate people.

“I tell them not to focus on the problems and never to give up.”