RACE DIARY

Mark's interview from the South Pole

Mark is in good spirits facing into the last leg of the journey.

Simon anticipates the home run

Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Epoch Times Article

After fifteen gruelling days the guys are feeling the pain.

Team Southpoleflag have made it to the mid-race checkpoint.

The team is now only a few hours away from the checkpoint

After seven days of racing, team Southpoleflag is going strong.

Simon's upbeat report after day 5

After 4 days of racing the team is still in third place.

After 2 days of racing the guys are in third place.

The race is on

The boys are raring to go

The boys are getting used to the new environment

Listen to Inge anticipating the adventure ahead

Mark and Simon pack their lunch

Listen to Mark and Simon's final thoughts as they set off on the first leg of the journey

"A double cheese burger, chips with cheese and onion rings please" was my order in Ricks Burgers last Friday night. I ate the lot - guilt free. We’re layering on the fat for the race and all dietary restrictions have been lifted!

”I’m bloody loving this!” I said. “Ah, some Norwegian positivity” Inge replied. We were taking a quick food stop during our final training camp in Norway and we were starting to understand what 'gliding' on skis means…

It was nearly 1:30 am by the time I left Belfast Rowing Club's annual dinner and I still had to get home, pack my kit, take a two hour bus journey to Dublin airport and catch a 6:30 am flight to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Another all-nighter on our journey to the South Pole

Put your photo on our South Pole Flag for FREE! Flag closes 30th November!

“Tony, you’re not going to like this but, I’m going to have to pull our team out of the race. I just can’t raise any more money.” It is strange, but those words were not the end, but rather the start of a new adventure.

Sunday, 5th of October 2008 was the date on the calendar for us to collect our remaining South Pole kit. It was to be a day of excitement - the start of the final run-in towards the race. But, as we flew to Bristol and drove to the meeting point, I felt that our race was over before it had even begun….

Last Tuesday I flew to Edinburgh to speak at a banking conference. On the flight, I had been filling the journey listening to the story of polar explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton.

“Janek has an idea for some kind of viral marketing campaign” Simon said. This comment came about ten days ago as I was deep in the trenches, fighting to reach potential corporate sponsors.

My arms, shoulders and back were solid with lactic acid after a punishing 45 minute weights session. By then we were late for a final climbing class on the wall before our proficiency test the following week – something we had decided to do after our introduction to crevasse rescue in Austria. We had to be there.

I don’t know what woke me up but it wasn't my alarm. I was late for training. I called Simon, “I’ve missed the slot. Sorry. I’m up but it's too late to get there now.” At 7 a.m. I should have been on my way to the city centre, breakfast on board.

Some time ago I was told that Tuesdays are the best days to ask your boss for a raise and to get a positive response. Applying this logic to my sponsorship search, last Tuesday I set myself up for a day of follow-up calls.

Noel dropped off the top of the plateau and I heard the swoosh of his skis gathering pace. In a split second his pulk (sledge) followed and then it was me. The tips of my skis hung over the edge and soon I too was on the move.

I woke to the shouts of, “Let’s go, let’s go, lets go!” Simon and Noel were out of their sleeping bags within seconds. As I extricated myself from the tent my heart rate began to race. It was 6:30 am and we were standing on a glacier in nothing but our shorts…

By the time you reach this page it is likely that you know what the challenge is – it is to race to the South Pole over 800 kilometres in the world’s harshest environment. We will man-haul 90 kg sledges (pulks) up to 16 hours each day for 45 days. We will be sleep deprived, hungry, cold and tired. We will risk Polar shock and wonder why we are there at all.

It was an exciting whirlwind media tour over the last few days in London with a press launch, visits to BBC News studios, The Telegraph and phone interviews whilst traveling in black cabs. Watch them…

The big aim in the last four months has been to avoid injury by cross training – I’ve been ‘getting ready to train’… Since early February I’ve been preparing my muscles for some real work.

Apart from the challenge of hauling more than our own body weight for 12 hours a day over 800 kilometres to the South Pole, we need to fund the project. I can get myself fit, strong and ready to race to the South Pole but without the funding it simply will not happen...

Recently I have been writing about my fear of the unknown – the terrain that we will face in Antarctica. So, last week I did something about it and travelled to Norway in search of sastrugi…

Over the weekend I received my training programme for the next seven months and I love it. It is hard; but as soon as it hit my email I couldn’t wait to start. To explain why, I’d have to bring you back 22 years to my 10th birthday party, when...