PROFESSIONAL PROFILE FIVE GO TO THE

SOUTH POLE By Zoe Hudson, MCSP

It seems quite extraordinary that this time last year we were sit- ting waiting in Punta Arenas, Chile, frustrated that the weather was too poor for us to get to Antarctica. I had been a member of the McVitie’s Penguin Polar Relay, the first all female expedition to the North Pole and we got there on May 27 1997. I was fortu- nate to be on the last leg of the relay with 117 nautical miles to go, and the ice breaking up around us, we reached our target in just 10 days.

On the back of our success in the North, six of us from the expe- dition got together to try another challenge (although only five actually embarked on the trip as the sixth broke her wrist just before we set off). We decided on aiming for the South Pole for the new millennium. The same cold conditions as our previous trip but this time we would have no guides and we would be pulling our load in pulks (sledges) nearly 700 miles from the edge of Antarctica. We expected it to take us between 60 and 70 days. The other members of the team were Caroline Hamilton, Ann Daniels, Rosie Stancer and Pom Oliver.

The South Pole expedition was also very different in that the team was responsible for all our decisions. It took two years to prepare

for the trip and involved a vast amount of work ranging from rais- ing the finance and sponsorship to choosing food and equipment. We had to decide on our route, be confident in our navigation and learn rope and rescue techniques in case we disappeared down a crevasse (it’s amazing what you can do with a prussik knot!).

Training was another issue, I have done a couple of marathons and can envisage 26 miles, but training for over eight hours of hard physical activity every day for 60 to 70 days? During the week I wrestled with my Nordic skiing machine, ran, cycled and ate, as well as continuing my lecturing at The University of East London. At the weekend we hauled tyres and logs through the countryside, and ate a lot. You get funny looks dragging tyres in the Brecon Beacons. We had a training trip to Norway where we tested kit and food and learnt some invaluable lessons. So we were meticulously well prepared as we sat together in Punta, waiting, just waiting.

As a chartered physiotherapist working in sport, I suppose it was inevitable that I should be responsible for all things medical. Keeping healthy on expeditions is key and I wasn’t prepared to compromise. Although the medical kit was heavy (922 g), and I knew we wouldn’t use all of it, our previous experience told me that if we did need anything, we would need a lot. In the Arctic, Pom dislocated her shoulder as she jumped over a lead (stretch of

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