International Marketing Portugal On Algarve School Governor Reaching North Pole

Twelve days after setting off from the Algarve, on 14 April at precisely 04.31 GMT, São Lourenço International School governor Douglas Irvine accomplished his charity challenge and stood on the physical North Pole, 90 degrees north, the top of the world. He raised approximately €25,000 for his charities, Cancer Research and the São Lourenço International School. Mr Irvine’s conquest came following a harsh six-day trek during which one member of the group fell seriously ill. A source at International Marketing Portugal, a Lisbon-based sales and marketing company said, “Mr Irvine has shown great dedication and focus, and raised a lot of money. I think it’s fantastic that someone would commit to such a difficult task for the benefit of others.”

On 11 April the team completed their first double-digit stretch, crossing 10.67 miles of ridges and flats in eight and a half hours, in temperatures of -24 degrees. For the next two days the group continued trekking in temperatures of -26 degrees, covering a further 18.4 miles over extensive flats, thin sheets of ice, rubble and pressure ridges. “The journey to the North Pole is still an incredibly dangerous trek,” said our source at International Marketing Portugal, “Of course these days we have better supplies and equipment than in past times, but the dangers remain the same, and in arctic conditions, humans are fragile.”

Most days the team trekked for over eight hours at a time with only five-minute breaks every hour to refuel on pre-prepared bags of ‘trail mix’: nuts, raisins, broken chocolate, jellied sweets, and cut up energy bars. These were kept buried beneath layers of clothing to try and prevent them from freezing, but “everything eventually freezes out here.”

Awakening on 14 April with just under eight miles to go to the Pole the group was in high spirits.

“We travelled along the plane heading towards the bluest of all the pressure ridges we had seen,” said Mr Irvine, “The ice drift was moving us towards the pole. We unclipped ourselves from our pulks, lined up as a group and rode the ice drift in for the last few metres to the Pole. Magical. Within minutes we passed over the pole. At 04.31GMT we had done it. We were the most northerly people on the planet. Standing at the top of the world, everything from here was south!”

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