Joni ready to be the last woman standing

BANGOR woman Joni Swanston is proving a force to be reckoned with after securing a place as a contestant on BBC programme, Last Woman Standing.

The programme, currently being aired on BBC3, follows Joni and four other female athletes as they as they travel the world living with different tribes and remote peoples.

The girls have just one week in each location to master an indigenous sport, training and rituals whilst eating and sleeping as their local competitors do.

Joni, 23, who now plays for Team Northumbria Ladies in the Rugby Union Premiership, has played rugby for Ulster, represented Ireland at sailing and Northern Ireland at netball.

A competitive person by nature, Joni is determined to win and thinks there is no room for moaning or giving up. She has no time for anyone foolish enough to suggest that women are not as good at sport as men.

 "I´ve always been a tomboy. Whenever I was younger, I´d be climbing trees and falling out and things like that, and I never had a pain threshold, so I was through the roof because I´d never been hurt´" says Joni.

In the first episode which has already been aired on BBC3, Joni wins the opening round of the Huka Huka wrestling with the Kamaiura tribe in Brazil.

The fighting uses the lower body, knees, legs and feet and the women of the village are renowned for their ferocity in the sport.

Other challenges that the girls must face include running for miles carrying 5Okg logs on their shoulders, wrestling and racing with Water Buffalos.