Antarctic Ice Marathon
Belgian and Austrian Victories in Antarctic Ice Marathon & 100km
24.12.2007
In the wheelchair section, held in relatively good weather on December 19th, William Tan of Singapore succeeded in becoming the first person to complete a marathon on all seven continents in a wheelchair. It was a remarkable achievement, taking him 9:48:52 hrs of constant pushing on the wheelchair course. It also represented his seventh marathon on seven continents in only four weeks.
The marathon and 100km footraces were operated concurrently on December 20th because of a weather-related delay in arriving into the Antarctic. However, the conditions became extremely difficult only two hours into the race. Although the temperature was only -8C to -10C, it began to snow and fog descended on the course. Eventually, freezing sleet also confronted the runners. Many found it very problematic just to see the course, which comprised loose snow and ice throughout.
Henri Girault (FRA) became a casualty of the very tough conditions. Unfortunately, the brave 71-year-old, a veteran of five-hundred-and-sixty 100km events, could not manage to fulfil his goal of running 100km on the seventh continent and was forced to pull up.
In a close finish, Marc De Keyser (Belgium) won the 26.2-mile marathon in a new record time of 4:42:32 hrs – some two hours slower than his road best. The 43-year-old Belgian has spent a couple of seasons in the Antarctic and was clearly the most comfortable in the poor conditions. Behind him were two Irishmen, Mark Scanlon and Peter Bell. Brazil’s Bernardo Fonseca was fourth, with Raj Patel (Great Britai /India) and Brent Weigner (USA) rounding off the top six.
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