Antarctica Race Stage 3-Deception Island

Well, it’s over. The last two days have been a great test for every competitor and I couldn’t be more proud to say that everyone rose to it. Rising at 3am and running for 11.5 hours is tough once let alone on multiple and consecutive days. While this race seemed to be about battling the cold and terrain, it was also just as much if not more so about battling the mental demons that demand that you stay in bed and rest the body. Everyone just kept pushing though and it was a pleasure being around such positive and mentally strong people. Certainly they would factor in as part of my coolest 4Deserts experience yet as well as my best 4Deserts stage yet.


Monday’s stage, stage 3, took place on Deception Island just south of the South Shetland Islands. Horseshoe shaped Deception Island is actually an active volcano and thanks to a collapsed crater wall ships can sail right into the caldera. That’s right, the actual inside of the volcano.

The race started at 6am after a choppy Zodiac ride across the harbor and in heavy snow and intense winds. Starting at an old whaling station that was abandoned after an eruption 40 years ago, the course took us southeast along a black sand beach for about 1km before turning left and heading straight up hill to the top of what’s called Neptune’s Window. Neptune’s Window is a u-shaped break in a 500m ridgeline giving a clear, unobstructed view of the sea and shear vertical drop below. From the top of Neptune’s Window it’s an immediate left turn and descent back towards the starting point. That was our course for the entirety of the day—2.5km loops starting at 6am and stopping at 9pm. Eventually that was cut short to 5pm thanks to a massive storm front that moved in.

When the race began it’s safe to say that my body felt fairly shattered. My right hamstring was definitely strained and my right IT band was tighter than a bungee cord holding down a mattress to the roof of ’74 Chevy station wagon. The further down my right leg things only got worse with a strain of the ligament that flexes the foot. In the cold (-5degrees) morning and gusting snow I felt like a rusty lawn chair. Nonetheless from the word go I was out running with the top end of the pack. After about 15km I just couldn’t keep the pace anymore. Changing quickly into some more robust cold gear I hooked up with my great friends Phil Tye and Devrim Cerval and we walked several laps together. After 10km and at the top of Neptune’s Window I started running again. After two loops Ryan Sandes came up behind me but about 15km ahead of me (thanks to the loop track) and thus began my coolest 4Deserts experience yet. I ran with Ryno stride for stride for almost two hours. Despite being a good friend, I really look up to what he’s done and how he handles his success and fame in the running community. It was a great honor to run with him and for that long. After two hours Ryno showed why he’s the best as he continued on at the same pace while I had to back off thanks to my temperamental hamstring. By this point the sun had come out and temperatures rose to 32 so I stripped off more clothing and worked up a sweat. At 4pm I started running with full force again but after an hour a nasty layer of clouds moved in over the ridge and their gray and black colors descended on us in minutes. Suddenly the wind zipped through at close to 40 miles an hour and the snow followed in its wake. Now, only in a pair of running tights and two running shirts soaked with sweat, the wind seemed to pierce my skin and strike right at my internal core. Trying to get more layers on as fast as possible seemed like a fool’s errand especially as my fingers went numb in the cold. It is truly amazing how fast the weather can change down here.

In the end I managed 60km and kept my toes and fingers so we’ll chalk it up to a success…

More later about the last stage of the Last Desert!

Good running,

Rp