Just received this from a friend / club-mate - well done Charlie!!
We finally returned from the North Pole Wednesday evening, over a week late, having been really impacted by the poor organisation of the Russians who establish a camp close to the North Pole for 6 weeks every April. This base camp at the Pole was operated by Victor Boyarsky, who is an outstanding Russian Polar explorer, but fell sadly short on management skills. However, we found ourselves at Camp Barneo positioned at 89 degrees North, and visited the true North Pole at 90N early Tuesday morning at 3:30am. With bright sunlight all day, it made no difference what time it was, and our time at the Pole and the camp was operated without any reference to time or to time-zones
The polar landscape is a bleak white space with a dimensionless horizon in every direction. Yet still, it has an awry beauty to it, the upheaval of compression ridges in the ice rising high up around you creating long long shadows from the low sun as it rotates around you, never changing its elevation during the day. The cold is intense, reaching out deep into your clothing, the first sensation of cold being the bones in your fingers and toes throbbing, then fading.
We commenced the Marathon Tuesday morning at 5:30 am European time in static temperatures fluctuating between -30C and -35C, or down to -46C when adjusted for windchill. Having not eaten a square meal for 18 hours nor slept for a full 24 hours the going was tough before we even started. In the most highly competitive field to date, I finished 3rd overall. Sadly, I was unknowingly 2nd until 500 metres before the finish, and had I known this I would have completed the final 10th lap differently and may well have protected the position. At the start of the 3rd lap (out of 10), Korean Byeung Sik Ahn and Lithuanian Ignas Staskevicius pulled ahead, and I resigned myself to finishing 3rd.
I had lead the first 2 laps, hoping to keep the field to a slow pace whilst expecting the combination of hard crust and soft snow to flatten to a consistent hardened trough. However, on account of the extreme cold, the snow did not bind, and we found ourselves running on ever weaker snow consistency, more like caster sugar, with no resistance to the push of a foot. Also, the soft drifted snow hid within it totally solid lumps and sections of deep blue sea ice, like a man-trap lying hidden to seize your ankle as you pass. These conditions were not going to favour me as a heavier runner: both Ahn and Ignas were lighter and more fleet of foot, and were able to build an advantage as the crust broke. However, I was most surprised when half way round lap 10, the final lap, I heard a competitor behind me. I was unable to turn around as my upper body clothing had frozen into a plaster like freezing block around my neck. I was surprised when after 500m of pressure running to maintain position, I finally succumbed to the competitor, noting that it was Ignas, who slowly built an increasing lead to the finish. I was confused as regards how the competitor in 2nd place had overtaken me in 3rd place without me being lapped. The answer was that Ignas had stopped for an ‘Arctic dump’ on lap 5, and had been ‘in mid-motion’ when I passed him, without knowing. He found that it was a huge struggle to deal with the layers of heavy frozen, yet sweaty running gear and it cost Ignas 3 to 4 minutes to lighten his load.
From my own aspect, although there was a heated tent made available to runners, I considered that going in would have resulted in a major painful thaw, followed by a major more painful refreeze. Goggles were not useable as they froze within minutes, but without goggles, the weight of ice building up on your eyelashes made it pretty hard to see. From the shoulders up, the collars of my top layers, my neckie, my balaclava, my face mask and hat were solidly frozen to me, and were not going to come off comfortably or without protest. As a result I did not drink or eat for the whole 4 hours 20 minutes it took to complete. It’s a desert up there, air at -35C has no moisture, and with layers of clothes on you do sweat. I was heavily dehydrated at the end, but 3rd out of 24 starters, all nutcases, was pretty satisfying. Ahn won in just over 4 hours
We have enjoyed the company of a british film crew who will be broadcasting a 25 minute programme dedicated to the North Pole Marathon, next Monday 7th April on Al Jazeera English, Channel 514 on Sky in the News section, at 09:30pm, Sportsworld. They have some fantastic footage
Back home now, pretty unscathed, with only some minor wind burns on my face to show for it
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Well done that man - my fingers would have fallen off from the cold simply by being there!
