Monday, March 12, 2012

  Longest non-motorised polar expedition: Belgian explorers set world record (Video)

Antarctica--Adventurer Dixie Dansercoer, 50, and medical student Sam Deltour, 27, used a combination of kites and wind power to propel themselves and their heavy sleds across the Antarctic; they travelled more than 5,000km in 74 days , setting the world record for the Longest non-motorised polar expedition without outside help , according to World Record Academy: http://www.worldrecordacademy.com/.

  Photo: Adventurer Dixie Dansercoer, 50, and medical student Sam Deltour (R), 27, used a combination of kites and wind power to propel themselves and their heavy sleds across the Antarctic. They covered an average of 68km a day. Photo: Francois Lenoir/Reuters ( enlarge photo )

The Guinness world record for the the oldest person to have completed a marathon on each of the seven continents was set by Margaret Hagerty (USA) she finished her attempt aged 81 years 101 days.

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the The youngest person to travel all seven continents was set by Vaidehi Thirrupathy, who completed her journey aged 205 days in Antarctica.

  Their initial goal was to travel more than 6,000km, but the pair decided to leave Antarctica once they had broken the world record before the southern hemisphere summer came to an end.

  The previous world record was held by Norwegian Rune Gjeldnes who covered 4,800km in 90 days in February 2006.

   This method of travel combined with the use of other renewable resources throughout the expedition allowed the Belgian team to accomplish another goal: promoting environmental awareness.

 "We would just like to show the world that you can do so much with renewable energy sources," said Mr Deltour.

 "There is the solar energy that provided us with everything we needed. We had music in the tent; I was listening to my iPod all the time, I was reading books on my iPod and listening to, watching pictures from the ones I love. And then there was the wind, you know, the wind is just everywhere, it's all around you and you can harness it."

  Dansercoer said that in spite of feeling fit he did not want to rush into any new expeditions immediately.

 "It will be very weird because shortly I'll be in a traffic jam again and I will have meetings again. The challenge will be to channel the great calm of the expedition into everyday life," he said.