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Commando
Joe are taking part in this year's 350 mile Scott Dunn Polar Challenge
race. They're doing it for the physical and mental challenge, and
to raise money for the Meningitis Trust. For more information about
Commando Joe, click
here.
The
latest update will appear just below:
Commando
Joe
04
May, 0130 Resolute HQ
Commando
Joe has just crossed the finish line of Scott Dunn Polar Challenge
2005, on 04 May at 0121, and is in second place! In an incredibly
fast time the team has beaten the previous race record to complete
the race in under 11 days! The team is raising a huge amount of
money for The Meningitis Trust in the UK and all three members are
delighted to be at the finish line!
All
three are tired but well and are now looking forward to a good rest!
END
Read
the report of
Commando Joe's Polar Challenge
Previous
messages from the Commando Joe team:
Commando
Joe
28
April 2005
GPS-pos:
N76°55' | W101°58'
Full
steam ahead to the next checkpoint!
Commando
Joe
27 April 2005
GPS-pos:
N76°35' | W101°46'
Currently
in Check Point 1. Charlie is suffering from mild snow blindness
but is recovering and ok to continue.
Commando
Joe
26 April 2005
GPS-pos:
N76°11' | W100°35'
After
having just skied for 17hours and covering 35 Nautical miles, we're
cooking supper before having some well earned rest. Tomorrow, we
expect to be the first team into Checkpoint 1. Our estimated time
of arrival is at 1800 hours.
Commando
Joe
25 Apr, 05 -
23:13
GPS-pos:
N75°58' | W099°25'
After
a short sleep (and Charlie being woken early because Gary, thought
a Polar Bear was about to invade Team Commando Joe's sleeping quarters),
we soon had our kit packed and were on our way again.
The
skiing day began with all of us having really cold hands and feet.
The pain for me, in my hands was excruciating. After a few hours
of trudging uphill we were soon warmed up and making headway across
Bathurst Island once more. At about midday, we saw our first sign
of civilisation since leaving the startline, it was the support
staff in a fixed wing aircraft.
Not
long after seeing the aircraft, we had our first piece of downhill
to negotiate. The quickest and most fun method to descend, is to
simply sit down astride the pulk and go for it, under control. Should
you want to see them, I have some photos of Steve as he seems to
have mastered the technique.
Our
wildlife adventure continued to dominate our day whilst on skis.
Today we were treated to seeing an arctic fox and later an arctic
hare. Charlie was leading the team through a narrow valley when
he saw the hare bolup a small hill. It just sat and watched Charlie
for a couple of minutes, before disappearing.
It's
been another long day and we have covered a lot more ground than
we thought we would. We are now almost off Bathurst. 2 more days
and we should, all being well, be at Checkpoint 1 (CP1).Of course
we wonder how the other teams are doing, particularly the stronger
ones.
Hopefully,
no Polar Bears will visit tonight and we will get a good but short
nights sleep.
Commando
Joe
24
Apr, 05 - 20:38
GPS-pos:
N75°50' | W098°29'
A tough
day today, having started to move at 0700 we headed further into
Polar Bear Pass. The pass itself is immense. When looking from one
side, across to where we are headed, one quickly but wrongly assumes
it won't take long to ski across. It took us about 3hours. Halfway
across we saw another adult Polar Bear. The bear kept its distance,
while we kept a watchful eye. I must admit, apart from the bear,
the crossing was monotonous. After having had little sleep last
night it was particularly hard to try to stay awake. There was nothing
to stimulate the senses. Once through the pass, we entered another
river valley. It was particularly sheltered and the sun was beating
down. With a gentle but long uphill slog in front of us, it wasn't
long before we were all sweating quite hard. So far, this race for
us has been a bit of a wildlife sightseeing tour. On our way up
the hill I refer to, we spotted an owl. Flying quite low over us,
the owl flew, showing its brilliant white plumage.
As
a team, we're all cream crackered. We're all looking forward to
getting off Bathurst Island, this will signify the end of the rough
terrain and the beginning of the long hard slog over sea ice towards
Checkpoint 1 and on.
As
I write this, Steve is rustling up some Sweet n Sour, probably pork,
but we have no idea and frankly are not too fussed. Whilst Steve
continues, Gaz thinks aloud of what he will do when he gets home.
Sleeping and eating being high on list.
I'm
off to repack my kit ready for tomorrow's ski...
End
Commando
Joe, Race Start Day
24
Apr, 05 - 00:09
GPS-pos:
N75°35' | W098°02'
After
another long sleep, the race start day was upon us. After days,
weeks and months of preparation and training the big day was finally
upon us. For some this was an emotional moment. For us it was what
it's all about... getting on with the race. All the teams lined
up at 0755hrs local, Saturday 23rd April. After a countdown from
Dave P., one of the Innuits on the support staff, fired the shotgun
at 0800hrs, signally the start of the race. It was difficult to
tell, but I think we were first across the line scooting off up
the hill to the team's first waypoint. Only 15 Nautical miles north
of the start, the team saw there first Polar Bear. She was accompanied
by her 2 cubs. Unfortunately, they were too far away to take a decent
photo. She really was not interested and soon trundled off. Not
long after, we noticed a seal, basking in the Polar sun. As if this
wasn't enough, several hours later we caught sight of what looked
like two Caribou....
It's
now midnight and we've just stopped to have some supper before going
to bed. We're camped on Bathurst Island, in Polar Bear Pass. It's
been a long day, with good weather. We hope it remains the same.
If
time permits, I will tap away on the touchscreen again tomorrow...
PS
- Happy Birthday Marti, lots of love, Steve. X
 Watch
the start of the Scott Dunn Polar Challenge
Video courtesy
of Polar Challenge Limited
To
watch video content on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ you will need to have a program called
RealPlayer installed on your computer.
END
Commando
Joe
21
Apr, 05 - 20:02
GPS-pos:
N75°05' | W097°00'
What
a day... we purposely had a 30min lie in this morning. After having
breakfast and packing all our kit away, all but 3 teams had left
the camp area. This was fine by us. We wanted to take a leisurely
day and even at a slow pace, we managed to overtake a number of
teams.
(Just
received a mail drop by air. Thanks for all your support! Karen
Davies, Daniel and Rebecca Cock, Bullen Clan, Meningitis Trust HQ
and Scotland, Peppers, Seonaid Crawford, Michelle Pepper, Helen
and Joy, Dean Bowdery, Lynne Hughes, Anna Berry and lump, 101 Engr
Regt (EOD), Ossie, Marti, Harry, Jordan, Taryn, Lizzie Bell, Mum
and Nick, Nigel and Deb, Carol, Jack and Harry, Pete Rowlands, Adrian
Bell)
The
team has covered its largest distance so far, 15.4 Nautical miles.
We do expect to cover more miles per day on the race itself. The
distance took us 8.5hrs.
It's
not a pleasant experience going outside, baring oneself to have
a No.2 in the howling wind, but with the 15.4 miles in front of
us, one has no choice.
The
ski today whilst being lengthy was quite laborious and monotonous
to begin with. In flat light, it's very difficult to see anything
and therefore almost impossible to see any kind of feature to allow
us to navigate by, we have to have the GPS in our hands, in front
of our eyes whilst skiing.
Our
routine whilst skiing is for the first team member to lead, trailbreak,
check the team are following, by looking over his shoulder periodically
and finally to navigate for 2 hours (in good conditions, 1 hour
in poor) The second team member check navigates the leader and checks
the third member is still following. All team members also keep
a keen look out for Polar Bears. The third member checks behind
to ensure no bears are following. Throughout the 2 hour stint, the
leader keeps the team informed of the distance still to travel and
the time until the next stop. When the 2hrs is up, the leader goes
to the back. The number 3 assumes the duties of the number 2 and
the number 2 assumes the duties of the leader.
Each
of us has niggling aches and pains and each of us suffers differently
with the cold. For example Steve has had frost nip whilst serving
in Norway in the past. Gary has suffered from snow blindness whilst
in Italy in the past and Charlie has poor circulation and suffers
with cold hands.
I neglected
to mention yesterday that Steve, whilst listening to "Eminem"
on his minidisc music player, fell over whilst skiing. You might
wonder why I mention this, but during one of the tracks, a gun is
fired. It was when Steve heard the bang, he fell over! Charlie was
bringing up the rear and he had to stop, due to being in fits of
laughter!
It
was really quite surreal yesterday, listening to the Ministry of
Sound, Chillout Sessions (thanks to James (Fromage) Cheesman) whilst
carrying a small rucksack and pulling a heavy pulk, in the lovely
conditions we had. I hope we have more days the same.
END
Commando
Joe
20 Apr, 05 - 19:59
GPS-pos:
N74°52' | W096°30'
Another
sunny day, but the still air temperature on leaving Camp 2 this
morning, was -28. This is the coldest temperature we have experienced
so far. Only a few minutes after having left Camp 2, we and no doubt
all the other teams noticed multiple Polar Bear tracks. The tracks
passed through the camp area, so whilst we were sleeping the bears
were prowling.
Several
hours later, we came across Arctic Fox paw prints and not long after
that, some holes in the snow where the bears have attempted to break
through the ice in search of seals.
The
team also experienced passing through ice rubble for the first time.
Not easy, but quite enjoyable trying to find the best route through
the maze of ice troughs and boulders for the team.
Now
we're at Camp 3, preparing for the coming days and inevitable bad
weather at some stage. Around our warm evening meal of pasta, we
discuss how the day went and prepare to carry out any minor prepares
we need to. For example Gary restitching his face mask to his goggles.
Since starting to write this the wind has picked up. This could
make tomorrow's ski interesting. That said, by the morning the weather
may have turned for the better or maybe even worse.
As
well as discussing the day, we think and talk of our families and
friends. In particular Steve's wife Martine and 3 children, Harry,
Jordan and Taryn. Gary's wife Tracey and his 3 chilldren, Aaron,
Samuel and Elliot. Charlie thinks of his sister Lizzie and her husband
Adrian, his father and grandmother. The list of friends would be
too exhaustive to write here.
Our
tent routine so far, on arrival at a camp area has been for Steve
to ensure the shotgun is loaded, but no rounds are chambered ie
in a safe condition. Then Steve and Charlie start to put the tent
up while Gary gets the cookers and fuel unpacked and fills a bag
with snow, which will be melted down for water. When the tent is
up, Steve gets inside to get the cookers on and some water boiled
ready for a hot brew. Concurrently, Gary and Charlie continue to
secure the tent and move all our kit inside. By the time Gary and
Charlie have finished, Steve hands them that nice hot brew.
END
Commando
Joe
19 Apr, 05 - 20:11
GPS-pos:
N74°47' | W095°55'
During
our 48hr mini exped, prior to us moving towards the startline, we
learnt a few lessons...including not to pack any fuel inside the
pulk (sledge) bag. Charlie's sleeping was soaked amongst other kit.
After
a short period of time in Resolute, we set off in the 4 day ski
yomp from Resolute to Polaris. Yesterday, day 1 we covered 8 Nautical
Miles. Today we have covered 11. On both days the weather has been
fantastic. Sunny, little or no wind, blue sky and relatively "warm".
Team
morale is high. Steve's jokes get worse, Gary and Charlie suffering
in silence...
2 more
days to startline then x number of days to the end!
END
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As
the Commando Joe team embark on their attempt to claim the 350 mile
polar race, we're following their progress via regular satellite update...
