Danny Mavor is tetraplegic. In September he crossed the Highlands coast to coast on a heavily modified 4x4 wheelchair. The route and the film are set out on the page for Danny’s Big Adventure. This is the part that page does not cover, which is why we said yes to it without hesitating.
Who is Danny Mavor?
Seven years ago a motorcycle accident left Danny with a spinal injury. What followed was intense pain and a long stretch without purpose, the part of an injury like this that nobody films and few people talk about.
Then came Regain, the sports charity that supports tetraplegic people back into sport. Through them Danny found a purpose again, and something else came with it. The man heading to Fort William in September notices the small things. He laughs easily. He is honest about the hard parts. He has become, without setting out to be, a role model for what positive masculinity can look like.
What did he actually attempt?
The Great Glen Way runs coast to coast across the Highlands, from Fort William on the west to Inverness on the east, along the lochs and canal towpaths of the Great Glen. Walkers typically take five to seven days over it.
Danny crossed it on a heavily modified 4x4 wheelchair, and he completed it. Distance, terrain and Highland weather in September are a serious proposition for any machine and any body. That he finished is rather the point.
What is the film actually about?
Not the crash, and not the finish line. The film is about purpose: what it takes to find one again after an injury like this, and then to redefine it once your body will not do what it used to do. Danny found that first through Regain, the sports charity that supports tetraplegic people back into sport. The Great Glen Way is what he did with it.
Why did we film it?
Because this is the moment we make films about. The held focus of somebody who has decided to do a hard thing and is going anyway. The quiet before the effort. It is the idea this company is named for, and Danny carries it better than most elite athletes we have filmed. Read where that idea comes from on The Quiet Eye.
Quiet Eye handled the direction, planning and filming, and the edit is under way now. Follow the film’s progress on its page.