WINNER OF A CASE OF CHAMPAGNE FROM WINEIMPORTER.CO.UK - SEE LINK TO RIGHT!

WINNERS OF THE 2006 POLAR CHALLENGE!

Celebrations at the Magnetic North Pole!

Myself and the team, sponsored by GKN, arrived at the 1996 Magnetic North Pole at approximately 1600 on the 28th April and subsequently crossed the finish line to win the 2006 Polar Challenge at 03:15, on the 29th April in a time of 11 days 15 hours and 5 minutes, over 15 hours ahead of the next team!

More importantly we have so far raised over £10,400 for the Laura Crane Trust who research treatments for cancer in teenagers and young adults. Furthermore, the publicity we have, and hopefully will continue to receive, through entering the race will help to raise awareness and an increased understanding of the illness in young people, ultimately leading to better prevention and improved treatments and in some way serve to prevent the loss of more amazing young people such as Laura.

Our team consists of myself, Mike Dann, an Engineer from Huddersfield and now based on the Isle of Wight working for GKN who have supported me and the team amazingly throughout this event, Tim Tottenham, a Royal Marine based in Portsmouth and Simon Edmundson, a Mechanical Engineer from Cambridge. As a team we have dealt with white outs were it was impossible to distinguish the snow from the sky, rubble fields of broken ice and temperatures as low as -42 centigrade and completed a final 27 hour day to reach the magnetic North Pole and the finish line in first place.

Due to the Arctic weather we were forced to wait at the finish line for 3 days before an aircraft could fly in to collect us and are now waiting in Resolute for an aircraft to fly to Ottawa and on to the UK.

We would like to thank everyone who has sponsored us and helped make a difference to the Laura Crane Trust. In particular we would like to thank GKN for the incredible support we have received both before and during the race, without their support none of this would have been possible and I consider myself extremely lucky to work for a company who invests so much in its employees.

Mike Dann and the team, sponsored by GKN.