By Sean Moriarty

Adventurer Kevin Leahy is off to challenge himself in the extreme cold again.

On Sunday he will start his second Arctic adventure race - Lapland Arctic Ultra, billed as a race “through Europe’s last wilderness”, and this time he's raising funds for ADAPT Kerry Women’s Refuge and Support Services.

“We are in awe of Kevin here in ADAPT Kerry, he is an incredible athlete with a fantastic social conscious," Catherine Casey, General Manager of ADAPT, told the Killarney Advertiser.

"The fact that he has taken the time to think about and support the women and children we work with in the middle of his preparations for his 500k Ultra Marathon is such a great and thoughtful achievement. We wish Kevin the very best of luck in this incredible endurance challenge. We wish him every success on this journey."

Last month Kevin won the foot-race element of the Yukon Arctic Ultra – billed as the world’s coldest and toughest race - where temperatures dipped as low as -50°C – he was only beaten by a cyclist in Canada.

The 500km Överkalix, Sweden-based event is his second race in what Kevin is describing as his 1000kms of chaos and both ice races will feature in a documentary that will be screened at the Kerry International Film Festival later this year.

The race takes place between March 6-16 in the Swedish town, which is about 160km west of the Finnish town of Rovaniemi, the official home of Santa Claus in Lapland.

“The body is well rested, I was home for nearly two weeks but it took a few days to get back into Irish time,” Kevin told the Killarney Advertiser from Stockholm as he awaited a connecting flight to Umea which is close to the Arctic Circle. “I am excited and looking forward to it, I am hearing it is not as cold [as Canada] but there has been a lot of snow, so conditions underfoot will be difficult.”

To support Kevin and ADAPT visit idonate.ie and search Kevin Leahy.