'Real-life Forrest Gump' athlete to visit Windermere Prep

HORIZON WEST  With a goal of covering 20,000 miles on foot in the span of three years, Jim Plunkett-Cole is known as the “real-life Forrest Gump.”

And on Wednesday, Feb. 22, Windermere Preparatory School students will get to meet Plunkett-Cole, also known as Jim Gump, as he drops by to talk to them about being ambitious.

Plunkett-Cole, of Britain, set out in October 2016 to begin his running adventure, which is quite similar to Forrest Gump’s iconic run. Over the next three years he will run through six states, including Texas, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Florida.

And since the Nord Anglia Education Network — which WPS is a part of — is sponsoring his journey, he’ll be paying a visit to the campus Wednesday to inspire students and bring Nord Anglia’s mantra of “Be Ambitious” to life, according to a press release. 

Plunkett-Cole will be running in to campus at 8:45 a.m. by police escort, with students cheering him on as he meets with 1998 Olympic gold and bronze medalist and Jamaican sprinter Dwight Thomas, who is part of WPS’s staff. He will then give a presentation to second- and fifth-grade students before ultimately being led out by the middle-school track team and continuing on to his next destination.

For more information on Plunkett-Cole, visit www.jimgump.com. 

Contact Danielle Hendrix at [email protected].