Arranging a trip to film at the North Pole required significant effort and perseverance, so here’s how he and reporter Mark Norman documented Kate Charles’ remarkable adventure, achieving a broadcast first at the top of the world.
As a BBC trained Video Journalist, I first encountered Kate when she got in touch with the newsroom, having finished her seventh marathon in Antarctica. Capturing the extraordinary dedication required to accomplish such a rare athletic feat, took nine months of meticulous planning to secure logistical support with BBC Technology and co-funding from BBC Sport and Nations & Regions.
The North Pole Marathon is held at Camp Barneo, which operates for just six weeks of the year, when daylight lasts a full 24 hours and the ice is thickest, floating within one degree of the magnetic North Pole.
It attracts explorers, tourists, and extreme sports enthusiasts, who pay substantial sums for the experience.
Once a bulldozer and logistics team can be airlifted to a suitable location, a one kilometre ice runway is constructed – just long enough for an Anatov-74 cargo plane to land on the fragile icecap.
Travelling from the UK to the Norwegian island of Spitzbergen in Svalbard, 52 competitors from all over the world convened at the most northerly town, Longyearbyen, ahead of the final two-hour flight to Camp Barneo.
The risk assessment for filming in such extreme conditions requires specialist clothing capable of withstanding temperatures of -40 degrees to minimise the risk of frostbite, as well as broadcast equipment that wouldn’t fail us in such a harsh environment.
Sony were unable to guarantee their cameras would function below 0 degrees, but having identified the main risks of condensation due to changes in temperature, we planned to store our equipment in travel cases outside our heated tents, with batteries stored inside our sleeping bags, to try and maintain energy levels.
I was keen for us to share Kate’s story as quickly as possible, but in 2006 extensive research suggested there were no satellites orbiting the North Pole that had the strength to receive and transmit live TV – apart from one of NASA’s space shuttles, and there wasn’t a mission planned at the same time as the race.
Instead, working with BBC Technology at Television Centre in London, we borrowed a hardware and software solution being trialled on laptops, which could encode video and transmit back to the UK via the internet.
It was pioneering technology at the time, but we needed a stable internet connection with good bandwidth, not something that was available at Camp Barneo. So instead we planned to edit and transmit our final film of the marathon once we returned to Spitzbergen.
Early in April , Mark and I embarked on our week-long adventure to Svalbard via Oslo and Tromso, where we met Kate and her competitors to acclimatise.
Poor weather conditions at Barneo delayed the marathon for two days, but on the afternoon of Friday 7th April 2006 we gathered at the airport to board the first plane with competitors and supplies bound for the Pole.
Landing at around midnight, our accommodation consisted of 20-person tents with thermal sleeping bags on camp beds, and as the runners tried to get some rest, race organisers marked out a circular route with tiny red flags in the hazy sunlight.
The circuit skirted the runway before veering off into light powdery snow, whilst avoiding large cracks and ridges in the ice. Then it was ready for the marathon runners to complete just over 16 laps to achieve the distance of 26.4 miles in a few hours’ time.
The following morning Mark delivered a planned live report into Breakfast News, via satellite phone, shortly before the marathon began in fine weather with good visibility.
As the runners set off, we trudged around the race circuit, through snow, sometimes thigh-deep, steering clear of crevices in the ice cap.
Wearing four layers of specialist clothing our extremities were most at risk from frostbite, but operating cameras with mittens proved challenging, so we reverted to two layers of gloves whilst temperatures hovered around -20 to -25 degrees with little windchill, before snow clouds appeared and the temperature dropped further.
Race doctors monitored competitors with frequent checks at the canteen tent, while operations crew kept watch for polar bears.
Kate Charles achieved her lifetime ambition and completed the race in an impressive 7 hours 45 minutes, and after several more hours, all 52 competitors completed the North Pole marathon.
After a second night at Camp Barneo, the plane returned to collect the weary runners, but after another broken night’s sleep Mark and I had nearly three hours of footage to review and edit.
Arriving safely at Longyearbayen and powered by adrenaline from the adventure, we scripted, edited and transmitted our report back to BBC Television Centre, ready for broadcast on Monday morning.
The news story aired across the UK and we even achieved a live TV broadcast from Svalbard into the evening bulletin, via the internet.
Filing from the North Pole within 24 hours of filming was a global first.
Not many people can say they’ve stood on top of the world, but two decades later I remain to this day extremely proud that we were able to share Kate’s adventure.
