The Weather Has Cleared, Team South Pole Flag Have Started Their Race

Adverse weather conditions culminating in high winds and low visibility
have delayed the start of the South Pole Race, leaving the six teams
tent bound in freezing Antarctic conditions for four days.

They had to wait for a window of clear weather so their supply plane
could make two round trips from the base in Novo to collect the teams
at the location where they had finished the training phase and carry
them to the race’s starting point.

Mark Pollock who is racing with Team South Pole Flag spoke to The Epoch Time
via satellite phone and explained that they had finished the training
phase 180km from Novo up in the mountains at about 3,000 meters on a
plateau. Unfortunately they had to wait there for weather to clear
before they could get started.

The training phase of the race
was to enable the athletes to acclimatise and also pass their crevasse
training. Mark said that the training was a bit of a shock mentally but
he got his head around it pretty quickly. Overall "it was tough in
places but really enjoyable in others" and he and his other team mates
Simon O’Donnell and Inge Solheim were all raring to go.

Mark
noted that they were cooped up in their tent for a few days but weren’t
experiencing any cabin fever yet unfortunately he did discover one
funny side effect from lying around for too long, the rush of blood to
the head when one finally decided to get up a move around.

One
of the things the guys have noticed is that it is quite difficult to
eat the amount of food that they are require to consume in order to
keep them going all day. Porridge, muesli and chocolate for breakfast,
nuts dried fruit during the day a bit of a meal in the evening. Mark
admitted that the food was “surprisingly not bad.”

The
competitors will camp out in tents and pull 70 kg sledges behind them
750km across the baron ice lands of Antarctica for the next month.
Hazards such as frostbite are a reality when temperatures can reach as
low as minus 50 centigrade.

Race progress

The teams
were flown in to the start the night before, one last night of comfort
then the race began. At 10a.m. on January 4th 2009 The Amundsen Omega 3
South Pole Race commenced.
Six teams set off for the 750km track to the Geographic South Pole.

After the first days racing a posting to the race organisers website
stated “Team South Pole Flag have stopped for an early night after
feeling low in energy, and are looking forward to a getting back on
their skis tomorrow after a good rest.”

Friends and family
of the team were shocked and not sure what to make of this news.
Fortunately for all John O’Regan who competed in the Everest Marathon
with Mark was at hand to give his insight into the news of their early
stop.

John was of the opinion that, “Feeling low in energy
is no big deal and based on our experience during the Everest Marathon
I can confidently say that the team will get stronger as the race
progresses.” He explained that this feeling of low energy could be due
to the team still acclimatising. “Setting up camp before you get too
tired is more energy efficient so as far as I'm concerned this is a
good strategy.”

John was right, the following day Team South Pole Flag moved up to third position.