Kiwi knocks off Antarctica marathon
Tracy Hickman is relishing the warmer climates of Grey Lynn after returning from Antarctica having completed a marathon in snow and ice.
In doing so, the 50-year-old become one of the first New Zealand women to complete a marathon on all seven continents and has a received a rare medal to show for it.
Fellow Kiwi and friend Jo Sims also joined the exclusive club, having joined Tracy for most of her races.
And it was almost a marathon just getting to the starting line.
Runners travel by boat from the Argentine city of Ushuaia across the Drake Passage to King George Island. The body of water can experience winds of up to 75 knots, making the journey treacherous.
However, for Hickman and her team, luck was on their side.
‘‘The conditions were incredible,’’ she said. just
‘‘The ship’s crew said in 20 years they’d never seen it so calm.’’
Winds were just two knots across the Drake Passage, and race conditions on the island sat at minus 10 degrees.
Hickman completed the course and crossed the finish line in what she called ‘‘a shocking five hours 43 minutes,’’ though she admits that included plenty of stops along the way to soak in the views.
But it wasn’t the race experi- ence that stunned Tracy the most. While on her trip, she got the wildlife experience of a lifetime.
‘‘I felt like I was in a David Attenborough documentary,’’ Hickman said.
‘‘Every morning you’d wake up and say, ‘what are we going to experience today?’ It was surreal to open up the curtains and see icebergs floating past the window.’’
Those experiences included an emperor penguin waiting for her at the finish line, a group of 60 whales with some breaching an arms length from her boat, kayaking amongst glaciers and seals bathing on floating icebergs.
But the highlight was a rare experience with a local penguin, who climbed onto Hickman’s lap and had a go at her iPhone.
‘‘Doing the race was wonderful, but you can’t beat a penguin on your lap,’’ she said.
‘‘It was just so exciting. Out of 100 of us, only three people got that and me and my niece were two of them.’’