Norway Beat Us to South Pole Again: Gratulerer

Gratulerer!*

In 1912 Norwegian Roald Amundsen's team beat the plucky Brits lead by Captain Robert Scott to be the first to the South Pole.

This year saw the inaugural Amundsen polar race and as 97 years ago it was Norway first but Britain second. Our team of James Cracknell, Ben Fogle and Dr Ed Coats even put in a final 27 non-stop hours on their skies but were still 20 hours behind the Norwegian team of Rune Malterud and Stian Aker. The winners reached the pole in just 17 days and 11 hours when the Brits were 31.8 miles (51km) away.

Unlike that first time when the gap was 35 days and the gap to other nationalities in getting to the pole even greater others, including South Africans and Irish, are still competing behind the polar pioneering nations.

*Trans from Norwegian: Congratulations.