Latvia's Evija Reine set a new women's record at the Antarctic Ice Marathon on Friday (December 17), despite the trying underfoot conditions of soft snow and temperature lows of -15 degrees.
In the southernmost marathon on Earth at the Union Glacier just a few hundred miles from the South Pole, the 30-year-old student doctor’s time of 4:06:11 hours eclipsed the existing event record of 4:20:02 hrs set by Great Britain’s Fiona Oakes in 2013.
The USA’s Grace Yao took second place, one hour and four minutes behind Reine, and Great Britain’s Julia Hunter came third.
In a closely fought battle, Polish endurance athlete Grzegorz Bogunia claimed the men’s title in a time of 3:53:02 hours, just over a minute ahead Julien Cazorla of France. The USA's Derk Cullinan was third.
Among the competitors was British explorer Lou Rudd, who had coincidently arrived in Union Glacier on the day of the race having traversed several hundred miles across the continent.
The oldest competitor was 74-year-old Pini Haroz of the United States and Israel who completed the course in 8:26:42 hrs. Jordan Wylie, a former soldier, extreme adventures, best-selling author, and star of Hunted and Celebrity Hunted completed the race despite a severe Achilles injury.
A massive storm hit the race location last week, making it impossible for competitors to fly from Chile. But after several days of delay, the race got underway on December 17, three days later than scheduled.
Sixty-two people from 18 countries took part in the sixteenth edition of the Antarctic Ice Marathon, and eleven of the athletes joined the 7 Continents Marathon Club, completing a marathon on all seven continents when they finished the race.
(Source: Reuters)
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website