TRAIL
SF : Hi Mo , thanks for making the time to tell us all about your Arctic experience . Firstly , I know you ’ ve travelled all over the world and done some incredible international marathons , but I would imagine this one must rank up there as one of the more exotic and interesting ones you ’ ve done ?
MJVR : Definitely ! I think it ’ s just the idea of running at the North Pole , where there is no land , so you ’ re actually running on the ice mass . It was just so out there , but it was a fantastic , exciting experience .
The legendary North Pole Marathon , organised by Runbuk , took place on 31 July at the geographic North Pole . William Hafferty of the USA set a new race record for the fastest time , winning the men ’ s title in 3:14:49 , while Susan Ragon , at 73 , became the oldest female finisher – and that with a broken arm in a sling . Congratulations to all runners !
SF : I think that ’ s the part that strikes me the most … The North Pole is not an actual continent , so you ’ re literally running on a massive ice shelf floating in a vast ocean . Did you find that thought going through your head while you were running ?
MJVR : It ’ s a thought that never leaves your head during the race . To get to the Noth Pole , you travel by boat for three days , so when you start off , it ’ s all open seas , and after a day , you start to get some ice blocks on the ocean . Then suddenly you hit solid ice , which the ship breaks through , so it feels and looks a bit like you ’ re hitting solid ground , because it ’ s not just water anymore .
When you get to 90 degrees north , the crew looks for a large , solid ice flow , because the ship has to counter-push against the ice flow to get the ice next to the boat so that the captain can lower the ladders . They then send out a team of guys with guns to test the thickness of the ice and make a big perimeter around the ship and race area , to keep the polar bears away – because that ’ s a real thing . We saw quite a few polar bears on our way there , and they are so well-camouflaged that they can creep up to you without you noticing … especially while you ’ re running a marathon , concentrating on the ice . You ’ re not even going to notice them coming closer !
They test the thickness of the ice to find us a solid piece that they can measure out the race course , but it ’ s unfortunately not nearly as big as Antarctica , where you run a 10km loop . At the North Pole , you have to do 120 laps of a 352-metre loop , so it ’ s a bit tedious , and much tougher on both the mind and body , because you ’ re going in circles all the time , and the ice becomes like slush puppy later on . So , it is quite a day out !
SF : If somebody had to sit with an actual globe in front of them , and put their finger on the top point of the globe , is that where you guys were running ?
MJVR : Yes . If you look at the globe from the top , you ’ ll see pieces of Russia , Norway , Greenland , Canada , Alaska and Iceland – they are all actually quite close to each other when you ’ re up there . But direction is an interesting and confusing thing at the North Pole . Many of us athletes have smartwatches with GPS , and we think of directions as north , south , east and west , but nothing makes sense up there . One of the marathon participants asked if he could use a drone while we were running , or perhaps before the start , to get some aerial pics of the race , and the organisers said no , because your direction is totally confused .
Unless you ’ re a professional pilot and know that area , you ’ re going to lose your drone , because you ’ ll be thinking it ’ s going west , but it ’ s actually going in the opposite direction , or whatever direction . And it ’ s not helped by the fact that the sun never sets in the summer months up there . We had the sun out all day long , 24 hours , and it just kind of slides slowly by . The
Literally on top of the world
only thing that really gave us a way to tell direction was the ship , because you could see which side of the ship you were on , but out on the ice , it ’ s very hard to determine which side is north or south . It becomes a bit of an illusional feeling that you get .
SF : With the sun staying up for 24 hours of every day , does it actually still rise on one side and go lower down on another , or does it just sit there ?
MJVR : It moves , but it just sits very low on the horizon , it ’ s never high up at midday , like during the
Images : Susan Ragon & courtesy North Pole Marathon
The North Pole Marathon course is a simple loop on the ice next to the ship
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