Antarctica, The End of the World & towards the 7 Continents
Antarctica Marathon – Saturday, 26th February 2005:
I got my finishers medal a week after I got home, and there was a few problems with the merchandise, but everything else was spot on. Thom Gilligan of Marathon Tours & Travel (Boston) could not believe how well things went, and spent the whole trip expecting something to happen. Listening onboard to Thom telling us what had happened in the preceding 6 marathon trips, make me think what a great job he had done to keep this on the rails.
I travelled from London via DC with United down to BA (Buenos Aires). Not the quickest way, but good for my Mileage points. We had 3 nights at the very good Marriott Plaza, including a banquet on the Sunday night. Temperatures were in the 80’s, but these were soon to drop as we made our way down to Ushuaia at the Southern tip of Argentina, and onto our Russian ship, the Vavilov.
We were on the first ship of two, and were soon making our way from the Beagle Channel into the open waters of the infamous Drake Passage, surely one of the legendary seas of the world. Ok, the ship rocked a bit, but for 2 whole days we travelled South in very kind conditions. We reached our first goal of King George Island early enough to drop off Thom and his crew to set up the course leaving us to sail off glacier and penguin hunting.
We returned to be ferried across to the Island in Zodiacs, for a 9am start. The event was a 2 lap course, taking in 4 research bases, plus 2 miles of Collins Glacier. They don’t have roads as such, so for most, it was pretty hard going, with an ambient temperature around freezing, however the wind chill made it feel a lot colder. I guess we were pretty lucky with the weather, and while I couldn’t honestly say this was the hardest race I’ve done, my legs were not at their best, and I struggled round in 6:08:40.
Race done, we had 3 more days in the area just off the mainland continent, chasing penguins, seals and humpback whales, not to forget the icebergs and glaciers that were everywhere. I briefly had my feet on the continent, before we were heading North, back across the Drake Passage and Ushuaia. The swell had got up a bit this time, but again we were pretty lucky.
King George Island – Antarctica Marathon
Fin Del Mundo Marathon – Sunday, 6th March: (End of the World)
Ushuaia claims to be the most Southerly city in the world, with the marathon running along the most southerly road in the world. Without going into Chile, I couldn’t prove the claims, but as there isn’t a marathon there, then that will do.
We were ferried from the dock up to our hotel above Ushuaia. After a week of inactivity on ship, I was glad to take an easy run down into the centre. It was probably around 4 miles, virtually all downhill. With just 2 days to go until the marathon, I certainly wasn’t going to run up again, and at just 7 pesos, a taxi was in order.
We started the marathon within a few yards of the end of the road from BA, just 3063km, if we wanted to go all the way. Fortunately we only had 42km to run. The first 15km were contained within the Tierra del Fuego National Park, with another 3km before we hit surfaced road. However, it wasn’t the surface that got you, it was the endless hills, before we eventually had a downhill stretch to the outskirts of Ushuaia.
At halfway, we had an out-and-back loop up to the new Airport, before taking in San Martin, the main street thru Ushuaia. At 30km, there was a nasty surprise, as we climbed up above the town. Of course, what goes up, must come down, so this did mean some nice easy miles to bring us home. Easy miles in a marathon, you must be joking, but I couldn’t blame the terrain at this point.
If you have ever been on ship, you will know that food is not a problem, of course the weight you put on, is! I’d carried that extra weight without stopping, and wasn’t going to walk now, so gathering myself I stormed past a couple of fellow travellers in the last km to finish in 4:13:22.
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The race for 7 Continents:
Ok, now the contentious bit.
I’d always planned to knock off all the continents, but the addition of South America to this trip, made me decide to do all 7 in one year, although in theory I only needed to do Australia after this trip. I didn’t even need Argentina, as I’d run in Rio back in 1991, when I was actually capable of getting near the 3 hour mark.
Ok, why contentious? Firstly some thoughts on why the 50 States Club made a couple of rules:
1) Because there was no marathon within DC (I know there was a recent short lived event), runners were allowed to count the Marine Corps as DC although it actually started and finished in Virginia.
2) Ultras were allowed as not all States had a marathon.
Both of these rules are fair within their context.
Well, if you look at the Antarctica Marathon, it is actually on an Island. I know that the purist would still count it, as it’s only just off the mainland, and surely considered part of Antarctica. However, it’s the only one, so it would be reasonable to say that rule 1 above reasonably fits this bill.
Ok, let’s now look at the other 6 continents. Do we need to pick an Ultra, when there are clearly loads of marathons on each continent? I feel the answer is no.
Now we come down to what is a continent? Well, I guess I was already aware that Hawaii was part of North America, and this trip has taught me that Easter Island is actually part of South America, while Iceland would appear to be part of the European Continent. Ok, if you live in South America, don’t bother going to Europe, just go to the Falklands, as I would say that is as much part of Europe as Hawaii is North America.
Of course, according to Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the Falklands are actually part of Antarctica, so that’s 2 continents killed in one. I say, come on you lot, make a bit of an effort, and when you say you have run a marathon on the 7 continents, mean it!
Regards
Roger Biggs
UK
