POLAR EXPRESS!
After gruelling 54-day race to cross Antarctic unaided, Irish-American explorer beats rival to the line with 32-hour, 124-kilometre sprint finish
AN Irish-American explorer has beaten a British Army captain to become the first person to cross Antarctica alone with no support.
Colin O’Brady completed the final 124 kilometres of the 1,482km journey with a sleepless hike that took 32 hours.
He took 54 days in the freezing conditions to finish the expedition and beat Captain Louis Rudd, who was attempting the same feat.
The remarkable achievement of endurance is being seen as one of the greatest feats in the history of polar exploration.
Mr O’Brady said that ‘something overcame me’ on the final leg and he was ‘locked in for the last 32 hours, like a deep flow state’.
He said: ‘I didn’t listen to any music – just locked in, like I’m going until I’m done. It was profound, it was beautiful, and it was an amazing way to finish up the project.’
Mr O’Brady, 33, and Mr Rudd, 49, had both started out from Punta Arenas, Chile, on Halloween and were neck and neck as they reached a camp at Union Glacier on November 3.
Neither had a support team and unlike some explorers did not use wind power to aid their progress.
After the camp, Captain Rudd was in the lead for a week but Mr O’Brady overtook him and stayed that way until Christmas Day when he made his final push.
Yesterday Captain Rudd was 64km from the finish line and was hoping to complete his journey tomorrow. Mr O’Brady said he would be there to celebrate and welcome his rival into ‘a pretty small club’. In an Instagram post, the Irish-American shared a picture of himself smiling but looking exhausted and said: ‘I did it!’ He said that he was delirious from lack of sleep and paid tribute to his wife Jenna who was also his expedition manager.
He wrote: ‘We turned our dream into reality and proved that The Impossible First is indeed possible. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela.’
Mr O’Brady’s surname is actually an amalgamation of his parents’ surnames – his mother’s maiden name is Brady and his father is an O’Connor. His mother is descended from Bradys from Co. Cavan and Crowleys from Co. Limerick.
The explorer’s father’s ancestors moved from Ireland and settled in the American midwest.
Mr O’Brady is an endurance athlete who has already climbed Mount Everest. Among the highlights of his gruelling trek were a phone call from singer Paul Simon, who was following his progress.
The dangers of the expedition were highlighted in 2016 when British explorer Henry Worsley, a friend of Captain Rudd, died from exhaustion attempting the same feat.
Ancestors from Cavan and Limerick