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On June 6th, all the teams converged on the Queens Hotel, cheltenham, for our awards party. This was the first time we had had all met up since the race. Things kicked off, with a champagne reception, followed by a meal. There were ice sculptures of the world and a polar bear, which dispensed vodka into shot glasses made of ice.
Trophies were presented by Hannah Shields, who did Polar challenge a few years ago, and this year became the first woman from Northern Ireland to summit Mount Everest.
1st Place Bearing 360 North
2nd Place Arctic Virgins
3rd Place Team Artemis (of which I was a member)
Having all successfully completed one of the toughest races on earth, we were all invited to participate in the South Pole Race! Needless to say, this caused a bit of a buzz around the room.
Everyone was presented with a wedgewood plate, which was throughout the evening, signed by all the competitors. We all had a fabulous night, even though there didn't seem to be enough time to catch up with everything.
Doing an extreme race like this, you form some very special bonds with people. There was a great cameraderie and overall team spirit, which is probably impossible to replicate in the real world. I think it was Nick Bevan (Team Star) who said "this is like a cross between big brother and wacky races". Overall a fantastic experience and one which I would certainly do again. (even though I swore I would never go to a cold place again -somewhere between checkpoint 2 and the north pole).
As for the South Pole Race. Watch this space.