CAYLAN Siddell’s love for adventure has seen him swim the English channel, walk the Kokoda Track and climb Mount Kilimanjaro before his 17th birthday.
The 16-year-old Canterbury College student recently traveled to England with the ambition of becoming the youngest person to complete the English Channel double crossing.
While unfavorable weather conditions made this an impossible task, Siddell still swam a single crossing.
The Tenah Merah teenager represented Australia in surf kayaking in Ireland last year in the junior and opens division.
Next year, Siddell is tipped to compete at Peru for World Championships.
Siddell’s thrill-seeking nature was brought to life was when he tracked Kokoda the first time at the age of five.
He said he was using the experiences as stepping stones to a potential career in sports coaching or psychology.
“This is about getting me ahead for my career,” Siddell said.
“I have got two plans. One of them is to go into special forces in the army and the other is to do psychology.”
Siddell singled out Mount Kilimanjaro as the most eye-opening experience of his life.
“It was by far my favourite. It was really fun,” he said.
“I got frost bite on my lips going up and when we went to the chemist they thought i had herpes because my lips were black.”
Siddell said he aspired to climb Mount Everest in the future.
