Rycote Sponsor Helps New Polar Challenge Entrants

North Pole Race Winner Gives Future Entrants Advice

Stroud, UK, February 2009: The Polar Challenge is a race, 350 nautical miles long and open to entrants from anywhere in the world, from Resolute Sound, Northern Canada, to the 1996 location of the magnetic North Pole. Contestants travel on foot and on skis, crossing the treacherous thin ice that covers much of the Arctic and braving temperatures as low as -40°C, and the constant danger of attack from hungry polar bears. Once the competitors have reached the North Pole, they are flown back to Resolute Sound by the race organisers using a plane capable of landing on the polar ice.

As the preparations for the 2010 Polar Challenge begin, one of last year's winners, Rycote sponsor Barney Franklin, has been giving advice to the next set of entrants to the race. At a GPS training weekend in the Welsh Brecon Beacons for all of the contestants taking part in the 2010 Polar Challenge, Barney, together with previous Polar Challenge entrants Steve Napier and Nick Bevan, offered next year's Challengers the benefit of their advice on team organisation, pre-race preparation, and how to stay alive in the frozen North.

Barney entered the April 2008 Polar Challenge as part of the UK three-man team Best Served Chilled. Sponsored by UK microphone windshield manufacturer Rycote (amongst other companies), the team was depleted early on in the race when one of their number had to turn back, but Barney and Steve Napier kept going and of the 12 teams taking part, theirs managed to reach the North Pole first, raising £10,000 for charity in the process.

"Unlike many races, you can't take it for granted in this one that you'll finish at all," comments Barney. "Where the ice floes meet, the ice can be treacherously thin, and there are plenty of polar bears about — you have to carry a shotgun. And then there's the temperature - it's usually between -20°C and -40°C, but with the wind chill factor it's effectively down to -50°C or -60°C at times. Just keeping going in those conditions is a challenge in itself."

Barney now attributes the success of the Best Served Chilled team to exactly that - keeping moving. Eschewing as much sleep as possible, the duo would ski for 14 hours at a stretch, pitch their tent and sleep for four hours, and then continue for another 14 hours, taking advantage of the almost continual daylight in the Arctic in April. "You're in tatters by the end," he admits, "but if you can keep that up for a couple of weeks, you overtake everyone else. Well, it was a strategy that worked for us, anyway!"

"We were so proud to be one of Barney's official sponsors in last year's Polar Challenge - and thrilled that his team won," comments Vivienne Dyer, Managing Director of Rycote. "Barney's determination to succeed is an inspiration to us all, not least the brave people now entering next year's Polar Challenge." More information about the 2010 Polar Challenge is available at www.polar-challenge.com.