Former Chiefs' captain Dean Mumm to trek across North Pole

Player raising funds for charity investigating cause of premature birth

After Dean took his playing career to Exeter Chiefs in 2013, their joy in expecting a first child was shattered when daughter Sophie was born prematurely at 21 weeks and didn’t survive. Tragically, the Mumms lost another child when they tried again.

Mumm’s goal is to raise $500,000 to fund an Australian research fellow to work in London and Newcastle for three years. A recent dinner in Sydney raised almost $150,000.

For this challenge,  Mumm's learning to cross-country ski — well enough to pull a 40kg sled — and then they’ll set off on a 100km, five-to-six-day journey to the pole. The trip is only possible one month a year. What could possibly go wrong? Mumm has a list. “Obviously the cold,’’  he said.

“Frostbite. And polar bears, they don’t often see them but they’ll be around.

“And then the ice itself really. I read the other day and it freaked me out, the ice is only about three or four metres thick, which doesn’t seem terribly thick. And it is constantly moving. It pops open and shut and fissures will open; that’s probably the most significant danger.”

But the reticence was quickly replaced by the excitement of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; a chance to not only help others avoid losing children but to honour Sophie and Henry, too.

“There is a responsibility thing in there because we have a responsibility to our kids, for Sophie and Henry who didn’t make it, to now live our life to the fullest. You have got to make the most of what you’ve got, as a result of going through this experience. Life can throw some awful stuff at you so when you have a chance to do something amazing — and hopefully help others — you grab that.”