Our friend James has just returned from his once-in-a-lifetime journey to Antarctica and accomplished a remarkable feat – he completed a marathon! From braving the extreme weather to witnessing the beauty of the Antarctic landscape, read James’ incredible experience below.

There’s still time to help James achieve his fundraising target. Donate here to help thousands of disadvantaged Cambodian children break out of poverty through education and sport.

Epic, memorable and incredible! Words can’t describe the beauty of the Antarctica region, a place truly spectacular and worthy of everyone’s travel bucket list. I was fortunate enough to visit this magical continent on ice a couple of weeks ago as part of a personal challenge to complete running a marathon on each continent.

So, the time had finally arrived, after much delay due to Covid rescheduling, my place on the waiting list was no longer in question, soon there would be a reception to meet and greet the other 191 adventure travellers at a Buenos Aires hotel to experience this amazing journey together.

Our departure for King George Island from the Southernmost tip of Argentina, Ushuaia, on board “Ocean Victory” was seamless, there were nerves a plenty as the voyage crossing the infamous Drake passage, renowned for sea swells of up to 9 metres awaited, time to test out those sea legs!

The marathon and half marathon event were due to take place shortly after our arrival into King George Island, however mother nature refused to allow any guests to board her island as 25 knot winds and heavy snow prevented a safe landing passage for the zodiacs, race day was postponed, time to explore!

Deception island, half-moon island, paradise bay all featured in our island-hopping extravaganza around the South Shetland Islands. There were troves of wildlife to witness up close, penguins, seals, dolphins, albatross, petrels, the dive bombing skua’s and many more! The highlight of these island excursions was witnessing a pod of 30 Killer whales up close to the ship for a period of 45 minutes, truly a highlight of the trip and certainly a lifetime memory to hang onto.

Time to run! The day had arrived, wakeup call for 5 am was set, breakfast was prepared early, first wave of runners prepared themselves for a run start at the Russian scientific base, no turning back now! The course was setup as six laps up and back over 7 kms each lap. Sounds easy? Not quite! The course was very hilly with a total height duration over 1000 feet, the running track itself was very muddy with the odd pothole to watch out for!

5.49 hours later, the mission was complete! I had completed the challenge I had set myself in 2016 to run a marathon on each continent (7 marathons, 7 continents) I was in disbelief and probably should have celebrated more than I did! I was petrified on the final lap I would injure myself so I kept a strong focus! 🙂 After being whisked back to the ship on board a zodiac, I was so grateful for a hot shower and cold beer, the time to celebrate had begun!

Many thanks to everyone who already donated or sent personal messages, gratefully received with thanks. I hope to thank you all in person to tell you more about this incredible voyage.

If you would like, there is still time to help me hit my fundraising target to give thousands of disadvantaged Cambodian children access to life-changing education and sport opportunities.

Donate to my fundraiser here.

Thank you and au revoir!

James

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