From The Telegraph in the UK. It also has a video of Mark Pollock speaking about his trek.Mark Pollock, 32, completed the hazardous journey across the Antarctic wilderness as part of a three-man team participating in an epic race inspired by Scott and Amundsen's nearly 100 years ago.
For 22 days, Mark's team South Pole Flag endured sleep deprivation, exhaustion and temperatures as low as as -50°C as they trekked 770 km to the finish line pulling 90 kg pulks. Speaking to Telegraph TV by satellite phone, a delighted Mark said that it felt "absolutely unreal" to have reached their final destination.
The team had originally hoped to compete against the time-cut offs and just stay in the race. But after holding third place for the first five days of the race, the competitive streak in the three adventure athletes took hold.
"It was a little disappointing we didn't come fourth," Mark admits, "but to be thinking competitively is such a high for me because just getting to the finish was my initial aim."
Team South Pole Flag arrived only two hours behind Team Due South after losing two thirds of a day seeking medical attention for team member and to a navigational error which led them to trek further than their nearest rivals.
They were one of six teams that competed in The South Pole Race which started on January 4th.
Norwegian team, Missing Link, won the race on Wednesday. They were closely followed by Olympic medal winner James Cracknell's Team QinetiQ, who had retained the lead up until the seventh day.
Team South Pole Flag came in fifth place.Since losing his sight overnight aged 22, Mark Pollock has set himself a physical challenge each year.
He was the first blind person to complete the lowest and highest marathons in the world - The Dead Sea Ultra in Jordan followed by the Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon from Everest Base Camp in Nepal.
Mark decided to take part in the extreme Antarctic race to mark the 10th anniversary of losing his sight.
This was the most gruelling challenge he had undertaken to date. "I'm a hard core adventurer but I cried five times," he admits.
When it became tough to motivate himself to keep going during the race, Mark drew on thoughts of his supporters. He said he carried a flag in his pulk printed with 500 photographs that well wishers had uploaded to his race website.
That flag is now flying at the South Pole.
He admits the challenge has been a turning point for him. Mark is now considering organising expeditions for blind teenagers so he can inspire others to challenge their boundaries like he has.
