Expedition
The Expedition
Andrew Regan: 'It was my idea. When I was flying back from the South Pole after a skiing expedition, I was looking out the window and the ground looked really, really flat. And I thought - we could actually drive across this.'
The awesome beauty of the Antarctic - utterly desolate; a pure uninhabited wilderness - has always drawn explorers and adventurers to its icy shores. From Shackleton and Scott to Ranulph Fiennes and even Michael Palin: the vast landmass still manages to capture the imagination.
The 2005 Antarctic World Record Expedition charted new territory. Not only did the team manage to reach the South Pole unassisted; they did it in a wheeled vehicle and they did it 21 days faster than the previous record time.
This was a team of ordinary men with regular day jobs. In the time-frame that others might use to go on holiday, they chose to drive where no man has driven before, and take enormous risks to achieve their goals.
Their goal was not just about getting there fast. The team also wanted to draw attention to the environmental and scientific issues connected with the Antarctic.