Cardiff Woman to Run Antarctica Marathon

Vickie Clauson — a 52-year-old Cardiff woman who admittedly "hates the cold" —will join runners from 23 states and 13 countries across six continents to brave a race across one of the most frigid places on the planet.  

March 9 Clauson will lace up for the 13^th  Antarctica Marathon, a 26.2 mile trek staged on King George Island off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The course transverses gravel roads that connect and pass the scientific research bases of Uruguay, Chile, China and Russia. On race day, Caluson can expect to face temperatures ranging from 15 to 34 F with wind gusts that can easily reach 40 mph. Held at the tail end of the Antarctic summertime, heavy snow is rare but light flurries are common.

Traveling to this marathon on what is referred to as ‘the last continent,’ is a marathon in itself. Athletes will travel an average of 7,000 miles each to Buenos Aires, Argentina, before departing to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southern-most city in the world.  There they will board Akademik Ioffe, a Russian icebreaker ship for a two-day crossing of the Drake Passage, a body of water that connects the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean and has earned a place in history as having some of the roughest sea weather on the planet. The entire expedition spans 14 days.

This will be Clauson’s second marathon abroad. She also ran the Great Wall of China Marathon, which helped her complete her ‘bucket list’ goal of stepping foot on all seven continents.

Boston-based Marathon Tours & Travel organizes this event every year, and despite its extreme nature, the Antarctica Marathon and Half Marathon has sold out 10 of its last 13 editions, usually years in advance, and is presently sold out through 2015.

"Antarctica is hot amongst marathon runners," said race director and expedition leader Thom Gilligan in a company news release. "There is a world-wide market of travel-loving marathoners who want to experience the world’s most pristine environment and, in some cases, finish their goal of running a marathon on all seven continents."

 The Antarctica Marathon & Half Marathon’s official charity is Oceanites, Inc., a non-profit organization that researches the impact of tourism on Antarctica’s environment. Participants raised more than $70,000 on behalf of the organization in 2011, and that amount is expected to increase this year.

For more information on the Antarctica Marathon, you can visit antarcticmarathon.com.