From the teams at Second Nature and Climate Change Solutions to the polar ambassadors; his education team to his tech team; his nutritionist and psychologist to his physical trainer; his project manager to his logistics director, Mark wood has drummed up a lot of critical support for his North South Solo expedition over the years. Without them, there’s no chance he’d have even made his first steps on ice.
But now he’s there “in the middle of a white void”, with just 113 miles and 8 days left until he is due to hit the South Pole, it’s all down to him: the only thing that can keep him going is his determination and motivation. And what drives that is you.
He needs your support and encouragement now more than ever. Each night he phones in and hears back from the team on how his sponsorship on The DoNation is clocking up, and each pledge pushes him onwards with renewed determination, as you can hear from these blogs where he specifically thanks Kirsty Morris and Emma Robinson for their DoActions.
So if you haven’t already, here are three reasons why you should support him:
1. It’s darn tough
Perhaps that’s stating the obvious, crossing Antarctica was never going to be a walk in the park. But these facts might help to bring the extent of his challenge to life a little more:
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He lost all the skin on his right foot in week one, walking for 15 miles on bare flesh.
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His ski binding has broken. That’s a pretty big deal. Hear about how he’s been fixing it here – innovative, if not a little make-shift.
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It’s freezing cold (funny that), -32°C today.
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It’s super windy.
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He’s often walking in a total white-out.
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It’s uphill all the way (for some reason, that came as a surprise to me….)
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The terrain is rough – sastrugi all the way (miles and miles of ice block rubble)
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He’s absolutely 100% alone. Until he saw some Norwegian kite skiers, that is, who he couldn’t even let himself sit down and chat to.
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And perhaps most severely, he’s suffering from the Wombles. Having lost his iPod (and his mind) on day 2, this is all he’s had running through his head day in, day out:
2. The ice is melting
- The Arctic sea ice is disappearing faster than ever before. It’s a sign we can’t ignore.
- 2011 was the second warmest year on record. All bar one of the top 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1997.
- Whilst East Anglia had its second driest year on record, Scotland had it’s wettest.
Something’s up. It’s going to be disruptive. We can do something about it, right now.
3. He’s not asking much
Mark’s literally going to the ends of the earth and risking his life for climate change, and all he’s asking you to do it walk up the stairs. Or to eat one less burger each week. It’s not too much.
So go on, show him your support. Get behind him and get involved. Do something.
Oh, and we’ve finally got a copy of the great phone call we had with him last month – have a listen here.
