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I ran The Antarctica Marathon FOR FREE!; My Experience Running 26 miles beside the South Pole!

So I ran the Antarctica Marathon early in the year. Yup, a real marathon in real Antarctica. And I didn’t pay a penny for it. It was kind of an impromptu thing. Painful, freezing, and involved a little frostbite on my toes and cheeks. But I got there. Let me explain how this all came about…

What is The Antarctica Marathon?

Actually, there are 3 events held each year on the continent of Antarctica that allow you to run a marathon on the 7th continent.

The Antarctica Marathon: The first, and original, Antarctica marathon has been hosted every year since 1995. However, it’s actually held on King George Island, so in my opinion it’s not really an Antarctica marathon in the way we think of it. Because of this, it’s accessible by boat, and is therefore by far the cheapest option at a still punchy $9kUSD or so.

McMurdo Marathon: There is a large American base on Antarctica, with a population of up to 1,200. Hairdressers, pubs, grocery stores, all in the name of silence. With that, they have organised a 10km/half and full Antarctica marathon each year for decades. Free to enter for members of the US Antarctica programme. It isn’t really available to non-scientist people though.

The Ice Marathon: The 3rd and final option is, in my opinion, the REAL Antarctica Marathon. It’s cold, expensive, and in the depths of interior Antarctica.You stay at the pretty fancy Union Glacier, a semi-permanent base for science and tourism within Antarctica. It hosts extreme adventurers, hard core scientists, some wild volunteers, and very rich tourists.

It’s only accessible by special plane that departs once a week (weather permitting) from Punta Arenas, Chile. The package to get there and run the marathon costs $21,500. Ouch.

Which Antarctica marathon did I run?

I kind-of ran the real one. The ‘Ice Marathon’. Although it wasn’t their sanctioned event. I was on a journey to try to be the first person to complete the Ultimate Explorers Grand Slam (visit every country, climb the 7 summits, reach north pole and south pole), and I found myself in Antarctica again.

How I ran the Antarctica for free

As part of Ultimate Explorer Grand Slam I had already organised my expeditions both to climb Mount Vinson, the highest mountain in Antarctica, and to reach the South Pole.

I had just successfully summited Mount Vinson, and the weather wasn’t great so my South Pole expedition had a few days delay. I had flown by helicopter back to Union Glacier to recover from my climb and wait for the weather to break.

The Ice Marathon had just finished the week before, and for whatever reason, they hadn’t removed their branding, or taken down the running area yet. I was broken from my Mount Vinson climb, but hey, how often do you find yourself in interior Antarctica?! So I had the bright idea to wake up the next morning, have breakfast and then have a crack, solo on the track, to run a marathon in Antarctica.

My experience running the Antarctica Marathon

It’s a professional set-up in Union Glacier. So some staff had heard a rumour I was going to try to run a marathon. They came and spoke to me and asked me if I knew what this would entail. Weirdly enough, I have actually run a marathon at the North Pole before too, back in 2018, so I knew exactly how horrible it was going to be!

They were cool about it. I just had to have a briefing with the satellite teams and the medical teams, and bring a sat-phone while I ran. Ok, deal.

Midnight Sun

The sun never sets here in Antarctica during the summer. So when it came to choosing a time to run my Antarctica marathon, I was kind of free to choose whenever! I figured the best time would be to have brekkie in the morning, then set-off after that.

That means if I got frost bite, or got injured, people would be around to help me. The Antarctica Marathon ‘track’ is of course just on snow and ice. But because the temperatures, with wind, can get to -40, the snow and ice is packed and frozen pretty hard. It’s uneven under foot but it wasn’t as much soft snow as when I ran the North Pole marathon.

The Ice Marathon then preps a 10km track that runs away from the camp of Union Glacier, and further away from any form of civilization. I thought I would do 10km lap, then break for a warm water flask to avoid frost bite. And repeat that 4 times. It sounded so easy in my mind!

Lap 1

I had tried to rope some other people at Union Glacier into doing a marathon with me. We had a day off, the track was right there, and people normally pay $20k+ to do this. LET’S DO IT! It was a no-brainer for me, make the most of our chance. And even worse, the thought of someone else doing it, and me sitting around, only for them to come and have dinner that evening where I hadn’t even moved. How could people accept that?! I couldn’t bear the thought of it.

The potential pain of the marathon pales into insignificance compared to the prospect of the pain of feeling like I wasted my opportunity, or was lazy. Maybe some therapy needed there. Anyway, one of the girls who climbed Vinson with me, Jamie, agreed to do the first 10km with me to help get me started. Cool girl, super fit, and with that, we were good to go.

Speed?

The first 10km, honestly, was ok. I was running with Jamie, so we chatted the whole time. I was so scared of freezing that I had wrapped up in far too many layers, so believe it or not, I was roasting hot.

We weren’t breaking any speed records, and the 10km took us about 1 hour 10 mins or so, about 7 minutes per km. I wasn’t trying to kill myself. I had no marathon training, and I was running in all the wrong gear, and it was -40 or whatever. So I was happy enough with the time, and just getting through this thing was the real goal!

As I turned the corner, for the last 2km, running back towards Union Glacier, we ran into a headwind and instantly I was reminded where we were. The faintest wind and my buff and wooly hat instantly froze. Pretty crazy. But 10 minutes later I was in the tent having a hot coffee, eternally grateful for Jamie’s company. 10Km down, 42km to go. And once you start, you’re never going to quit. It was due a battle of attrition now.

LAP 2

Coffee drunk. Warm in the dining tent. Pulling myself out of there took every ounce of strength I had! Back into the cold once more. By this stage I had misplaced the sat-phone they had given me (and thinking about it now, no idea where it ever went, sorry guys!) so I was a little worried they might stop me if they saw me. I waited to see the sat team sit down for lunch and off I went.

Second time around was actually even better than the first. I knew what to expect. I had prepared my clothing layers a little better too. This time I was solo so I picked the pace up a little to just over an hour for the 10km. And that last corner still bit like crazy. But I knew if I could get back to the dining tent with little-to-no frost bite in my toes, I should be ok.

The last km though, was a bit of a reality check. I was almost 20km in, pretty much a half-marathon. And although it had been fine. Around 2 hours or so. My groin, and my hamstrings were feeling tight af. No proper training, no proper fuelling, and of course the cold, was starting to hurt me. And for the first time I realised why people take these events so seriously. “Let’s just run a marathon in Antarctica” isn’t always the best plan, but I was half way through.

LAP 3

Thank God for the BBC. As I was having my 5 minute warm-up coffee in the tent, I got a message on my Instagram that BBC wanted to do an interview with me about finishing the 7 summits, it was live, and in 5 minutes. I told them I was in the middle of a marathon, but actually it would be a great excuse to take a break, get some salt in me, and not feel too much like I’m cheating! So I went to my sleeping tent and did the interview. It took 30 minutes or so, maybe more, and my legs felt a lot better at the end.

I necked a glass of water with salt, threw on my warm clothes, and took on Lap 3. And for the first time, it wasn’t enjoyable. The wind had picked up, so everytime I moved my buff, it wouldn’t instantly freeze. As would be eye lashes, my nostrils, my lips. Eurrrgh.

Suddenly a quick 10km felt like torture. Regretting my stupid decision to do this, I tried to zone out. But the pain of the cold wouldn’t let me. Could I walk some of it? Eurrrgh. I spent years telling people if they can put one step infront of the other, then they can run. So what? Now I’m a fraud? So I kept running. No-one in site. I fought to keep a similar pace, but everything else felt terrible. So on my watch, it looked steady. In my mind and body it was self-loathing, regret and annoyance that I thought I could tackle this without a problem. Anyway, lap done. Hating myself. Coffee stop.

LAP 4 – FINAL LAP!

3/4 done. Suck it up Johnny boy. With a bit of a limp, blisters forming everywhere in my shoes, I shuffled through the first 1km. Always, with all my training for ultras, or long cycles, or whatever, I can always find the strength for the home straight. And although I was miserable, and in pain, I knew it was just 1 more lap. No thoughts of quitting, no thoughts of walking. You choose this. Yes it’s cold, but in an hour you’ll be the guy who did what he said he was going to do. Just keep going. And then with the last 5km, I could actually enjoy the thing.

Finishing, of course, felt amazing. And you know, it was completely silent. No-one there. But still the Ice Marathon had the finish line up. So to finish an epic marathon like this, completely solo, was really cool.

It made me think of a great quote “You are what you do when no one is watching“, and that was enough for me today. Grateful for it all. So I took a pic of my watch (below) and I was done.

Strava Results

I’ve had some pretty epic Strava segments over the years, from the Everest Summit Push to cycling from Malaysia to Myanmar, but this one is Top 3 for sure! My marathon time is a little fake here though – 4.53. That was just running time. My 3 coffee breaks, and my BBC thing in the middle meant that the elapsed time was more like six and a half hours. But I was just happy to have completed it!

QUESTIONS ABOUT RUNNING A MARATHON IN ANTARCTICA

What about the gear?

I don’t know too much about technical stuff. I believe we all suffer from ‘paralysis by analysis’, where people talk a lot about gear, fuel etc when 99% of the time, it’s more important to go out and do the work. Worry about that stuff once you’re already good! Same for business, for life. So yeah, I just used normal gear. I used the same GoreTex Nike trail running shoes that I use in Thailand every day. And running gear? I just wrapped up in layers and went. It was fine.

Where do you sleep?

Union Glacier is POSH! That’s why it’s so expensive. I shared a twin tent, and it was legitimately nicer than hotels I’ve stayed in during some of my travels.

How much does it cost?

Holy hell, a lot. Chasing your dreams requires serious f*cking sacrifice, no joke. You have to work hard to make good money, then you have to spend years saving and not being tempted to spend that ‘good money’. Then you have to blow it all on your ego to complete this stuff. That’s the journey!

My Antarctica Marathon was ‘free’, because I ran it on my day off. However, my Mount Vinson Climb and South Pole thing, that cost a quite disgusting $90,550USD. Eurrrrrrgh.

Would I recommend it?

I recommend following your dreams. I recommend not getting bored by life. I recommend not getting older and wondering what if. I recommend to stop living vicariously and be your own super hero. So if that involves this? Then yes. Dream big. We can all do so much more than we believe. So yeah, do it. But never say you’re going to do it, and then don’t. Work in silence, and get there. You can do it.

Where is the antarctica marathon?

Check out my very cool GPS from Google Maps. That’s exactly where it is! Whereas the yellow star at the top of Antarctica is where I went by boat years before. And the green flag is Mount Vinson, where I had just climbed.

Other cool stuff you can do before this?

First of all, go walk a marathon. Give yourself a 6 week timeframe. Then just walk it. Even if it takes you 12 hours. It’ll change your life.

Then check out the coolest event on the market, the Eye of the Sahara Ultra Marathon. It’s an epic marathon in the Sahara that I’ve created and I want normal people to come and change their lives with me. Message me if you want to join!