Fastest team travel to the South Pole-team impossible2Possible  sets world record

 THE SOUTH POLE, Antarctica -- Ray Zahab, Kevin Vallely, and Richard Weber (the impossible2Possible team) travelled more than 700 miles (1130 kilometres), from Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole-setting the world record for the Fastest team travel to the South Pole .
   Along the way, the impossible2Possible (i2P) team survived altitude sickness, enormous blisters, endless frozen snow drifts known as sastrugi, and blinding whiteouts to achieve the record.
( enlarge photo )

Ray traveled exclusively on foot and on snowshoes, while Richard and Kevin skied, more than 700 miles (1130 kilometres).   

    They were powered by a 7000 calorie-per-day diet of pemmican, butter, other high calorie goodies, and lots and lots of Gatorade. But the South Pole Quest wasn't just about speed.

"Our primary goal was to inspire and educate youth; reaching the Pole in record time was definitely a bonus," said Canadian ultra-marathoner Ray Zahab, who is best known for another extreme adventure: running across the Sahara Desert, currently the subject of the film Running the Sahara.

   "Interacting with the students throughout the journey provided inspiration through the whiteouts. We're pleased that we also succeeded in making the expedition as interactive and educational as planned.
    We had so much support from the students who followed our progress online and we hope that we were able to inspire them to do something that might seem impossible, and to provide them with a peek at a remote part of the world at the same time."

Nearly 3000 students from the United States and Canada formally tracked the South Pole Quest team's progress and learned from education modules posted online. The modules drew on themes, such as climate change and the history of South Pole exploration, raised by the expedition.

   Ray, Kevin, and Richard contributed daily blog reports via satellite phone on the Iridium Satellite Phone Service - they responded to questions from young people, conducted media interviews, and uploaded photos of their expedition to the website.

    "Toward the end, the whiteout conditions were the worst I have ever experienced in my many expeditions," said Richard Weber, who was the first person to trek to the North Pole and back via unsupported expedition. "But we still pushed on, covering twenty miles a day for several days in a row, in those conditions."

   "Our journey to the South Pole was at times very challenging - Ray and I were both ill at different points in the expedition, and the terrain and altitude obviously present difficulties," said Kevin Vallely, a well-established adventurer and journalist who recorded all of the journey on video. "But we worked well as a team. And we would just like to thank those who supported us along the way, because the interest and the support really kept us going."

   The South Pole Quest is the second among a series of extreme adventures by Impossible2Possible. Education and inspiration are key tenets of Impossible2Possible (i2P), a non-profit organization seeking to link adventure and sustainability causes in the minds of youth and to inspire the next generation of global leaders. For more information, visit www.impossible2possible.com.

    The expedition's primary sponsors are Gatorade, Energy and Procurement Magazine, and Crocs.

Related world records :
Fastest journey to the South Pole-world record set by Todd Carmichael

Fastest around the world flight-world record set by Caroll Ann Garratt and Carol Foy

Longest Journey by Skateboard-world record set by Rob Thomson

Youngest to solo airplane and helicopters on same day-world record set by Errick Smith

Longest distance traveled on a personal watercraft in a 24-hour period-world record set by Mike Pagliccia

 Most flags flown on a Bridge-world record set by BridgeClimb Sydney

Lowest fuel consumption across the US-world record set by John and Helen Taylor

Longest Stand Up Paddle board journey - world record set by Justin DeBree

Fastest vertical circumnavigation-Adrian Flanagan sets world record

Fastest coast to coast round trip -world record set by US pilots

Biggest New Year Party-world record set by Rio de Janeiro


Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Add to Google
Add to My Yahoo!



View Site in Mobile | Classic
Share by: