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Polar Race 2003 News: 16-24 April 2003 (Leg 2)24 April 2022 - Steve East and Mike Krimholtz of Extreme Steps give their account of the second leg With Extreme Steps at Checkpoint 2, all teams are doing their preparation for the race restart tomorrow. Mike and Steve of Extreme Steps found time yesterday to jot down their thoughts on racing from the Polaris Mine (Checkpoint 1) to just North of Bathurst Island (Checkpoint 2).
Back at base in Resolute Bay, preparations continue for the move of the
checkpoint team from Checkpoint 2 to Checkpoint 3 once the race has been
restarted. The next leg of the race is mainly over sea ice and the
conditions expected are to be hard on the first day as they cross rubble
and soft snow near the coast, after that it will start to flatten out
and it will be similar to conditions already experienced. This leg
involves little coastal navigation and has no choice of route. The
racers have to follow a straight course on a bearing of 335° using
different navigational techniques including the sun and wind. We are constantly looking in detail at the logistics of getting the racers back from the finish line, again weather and planes play a major role in getting people to the finish coinciding with the arrival of the racers. 23 April 2022 - ViP3 reaches Checkpoint 2 at 2055 hrs, so all four teams have now arrived
The ViP3 team, which consists of Casper Hays, Babs Powell and Richard
Raine put in a tremendous effort today and covered 17 miles to get to
the checkpoint late this evening (Tuesday 22 April).
Initial Style Explorers spent their rest time yesterday (21 April)
setting up a coffee bar using their pulks. They then served coffee and
hot chocolate to the Extreme Steps team and the checkpoint boys. Did
Manley and the coffee bar look like his feast in Ottawa? 22 April 2022 - Extreme Steps reach Checkpoint 2 proving they really are getting to grips with Arctic travel and racing. Also read about the Polar Team, a team made up of "tough" characters The Extreme Steps team of Mike Krimholtz and Steve East completed the second leg of the Polar Race when they arrived at Checkpoint 2 at 0817 hrs this morning (21 April).
They will now have some well-earned rest. Checkpoint 2 is just over half
way to the Magnetic North Pole and thus the racers are more than half
way to the finishing line. Checkpoint 2 is in Cator Harbour on Sherard
Osborn Island. 21 April 2022 - Both Initial Style Explorers and Polar Team had encounters with polar bears during the second leg
Both the Initial Style Explorers team of Chris McLeod, Phil Ashby and
Manley Hopkinson and the Polar Team which is composed of champion
jockey, Richard Dunwoody and former marine Tony Martin had to take
defensive action against a male polar bear in the same location: Polar
Bear Pass on Bathurst Island which, as the name suggests, is a migratory
area for these bears.
Also read the press
release on the polar bear story.
Meanwhile the Extreme Steps and ViP3 teams are still racing to Checkpoint 2. During their scheduled calls this evening:
20 April 2022 - Initial Style Explorers win the second leg of the Polar Race with another tremendous burst to the finish and celebrate Manley Hopkinson's birthday in style at Checkpoint 2
Initial Style Explorers reached Checkpoint 2 in 3 days 13 hours 32 min
to win the second leg of the Polar Race for the Wedgwood Blue Ice
Trophy. They arrived at 0149 hours on the 19 April in atrocious weather
with strong winds swirling around making travel very difficult. They
had travelled continuously all day and evening on the 18 April to cover
the last 30 miles in one long, arduous push for home. ISE arrived on
Manley's birthday and the checkpoint team and the rest of the Initial
Style Explorers sang 'Happy Birthday' before Initial Style Explorers who
were exhausted had a well earned rest.
Polar Team who had been playing a cat and mouse game with ISE throughout the second leg arrived at Checkpoint 2 at 1301 with their forced stop last night losing them 11 hours on ISE. However Tony Martin reported that he believed, after talking with the checkpoint team that they had made the correct decision in stopping when they did.
Both ViP3 and Extreme Steps had a tough day in extremely cold weather
and they were heading into the wind all the time. Mike Krimholtz of
Extreme Steps said: "We are stopped in the lee of the land and it
is the first time we have not had a biting wind in our faces for the
last couple of days". 19 April 2022 - Checkpoint 2 established in Cator Harbour on Sherard Osborn Island. Polar Team and Initial Style Explorers are expected to arrive late this evening (Resolute Time) The checkpoint team of Richard and Ian flew out to Cator Harbour today and established a camp to await the arrival of the leading teams in the Polar Race. The weather in Resolute was windy with low cloud and the pilots informed us that there was a possibility that we would not be able to land, however as we approached Sherard Osborn Island the weather improved and, fortunately, a landing was possible. Gary and Tony accompanied the checkpoint team on the flight. Tony helped to erect the large tent whilst Gary communicated the actual position of the camp back to base in Resolute. Initial Style and Polar Team contacted base to find out the exact position of Checkpoint 2 as they headed for the finishing line of the second leg. When the plane left Richard and Ian were ready for the first arrivals.
ViP3 had bad weather today, high gusting wind and did not set off until
4pm when the weather improved. Unfortunately, it did not last and when
they rounded the next headland they were forced to stop and make camp
having achieved only 3.7 miles. 18 April 2022 - Things are hotting up at the front of the Polar Race as the Initial Style Explorers and Polar Team vie for the lead
Both the Polar Team and Initial Style Explorer teams, who won the first
leg are pushing themselves to the limit in order to get to the finish of
the second leg of the Polar Race 2003 in first position. 17 April 2022 - Impressive performance by the Extreme Steps team who are Arctic novices
All teams travelled pretty fast and covered some very respectable
mileages on the first day of the second leg. During the second day the
going was tough with a lot of pressure ridges but again all teams turned
in impressive mileages.
See Race Progress for details.
Steve, I have known now for 6-7 years as a fellow dragon boat racer for
the Kingston Royals Dragon Boat Club, one of the top dragon boat clubs
in the UK. He was not particularly good at it when he started, being a
bit physically weak at the time but he persevered as he does with
everything to become a stalwart of the club. Always the guy who is last
away and the person you can always count upon to do the odd and often
dirty jobs; a thoroughly nice man who you might underestimate at your
peril. He has given up a lot to do this race, which has been a dream of
his for a long time. He is certainly proving what he is capable of now! 16 April 2022 - Leg 2 of Polar Race 2003 gets underway at 1216 hrs in perfect conditions
Despite only getting in at 1600 hours the previous day, both the ViP3
and Extreme Steps teams opted to start again at noon on the 15th April,
which was the scheduled start day for the second leg, along with Initial
Style Explorers and Polar Team who had come in a few days earlier and
were well rested.
The second leg is both the longest and most complex as well as there
being a number of places where the teams could encounter thin ice. These
areas need to be avoided and the teams were given a briefing on the ice
conditions by Jock Wishart who had got the latest information from the
local weatherman and from the Canadian Weather website. The checkpoint team flew back to base at Resolute with the pilot doing an overhead pass and wag of his wings to wish the racers on their way.
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