North Pole Marathon 2010

(All photos, audio and videos are the property of their respective owners)

General Information

The North Pole Marathon is a standard marathon which takes place on the polar ice near to the geographic North Pole. It is the only properly accredited marathon which does not take place on land. Temperatures can be extremely cold but they vary from year to year.

Competitors fly from Spitsbergen (Svalbard) out onto the ice to a Russian run camp called Camp Barneo. Having got used to the environment, the race is then run in a series of loops from here, weather permitting.

In April 2010, Jamie took part in the race, guided by Alex Pavenello from St Dunstan's, a charity which supports blinded ex-service men and women, for which Jamie was raising money. The weather was fairly mild in Artic terms (around minus 10 degrees Celcius) but there was a strong 30 mph wind which increased the wind chill factor to around minus 20 degrees Celcius. There were 27 competitors and, in the end, Jamie and Alex came 13th, in a time of 7 hours 37 minutes - not exactly the fastest marathon but, considering the conditions and also the winning time of just over 5 hours, it was certainly a time that Jamie was very happy with.

You can get more information about the event at the official North Pole Marathon website.

Ice Cold With Alex!

In addition to the text diary below, you might find this article of interest. It was written for the St Dunstan's monthly magazine called The Review.

Follow the link below to read the article:

Ice Cold With Alex magazine article.

Text and Audio Diaries

Follow the link below to read Jamie's diaries from the event:

North Pole Marathon diaries

North Pole Marathon Photos

Follow the link below To browse the event photos or to watch them as a slide show.

North Pole Marathon photos

North Pole Marathon Official Video

Follow the link below to watch the official video for the 2010 North Pole Marathon on YouTube:

Official video on YouTube

Interview with Sir David Attenborough

Apart from the thrill of taking part in this incredible event, Jamie had the good fortune to be able to record a short interview with Sir David Attenborough, who had arrived at Camp Barneo with a BBC film crew, to do some filming for the forthcoming Frozen Planet series (due out in October 2011).

Follow the link below to listen to the interview:

Interview with Sir David Attenborough

A Bit of Extra Fun

On the event was a Romanian guy called Andrei Rosu. Apart from competing in the North Pole Marathon, Andrei's aim was to become the first man to play drums at the North Pole. Follow the link below to watch his cleverly edited video on YouTube:

Andrei Rosu playing drums at the North Pole!