Diamond Geezer
Gone But Not Forgotten
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- May 2, 2003
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From Daily Mail
When Richard Dunwoody was the country's finest jump jockey, he was regarded with nothing but admiration by the racing community. Now he admits they all think he is barking mad.
Eight years after a neck injury forced him into retirement, the former Grand National winner set off yesterday with two fellow adventurers on an expedition to reach the South Pole on foot across a route that has never previously been attempted.
To succeed, the three men must travel 660 miles in temperatures reaching minus 58 centigrade, in conditions which will reduce visibility almost to zero and across terrain that will rise to 10,000ft.
They will have no outside support, will drag their supplies behind them on sleds weighing up to 250lb and, at times, progress will be so slow that on some days they will barely cover five miles in eight hours.
They will battle bitter cold,chronic exhaustion and mind-numbing boredom, but success for Dunwoody will rival his Grand National victory on Miinnehoma in 1994.
Although he hopes to raise £100,000 for charity, he admits that he is taking on the challenge simply because it is there.
After giving up a sport that consumed him for 17 years, Dunwoody finds that he still needs to push himself to the limit. His is a classic case of a top sportsman searching for something to replace the buzz that racing provided, and since he quit the saddle Dunwoody has undertaken several expeditions, including a 350-mile ski race to the magnetic North Pole.
"People in racing think I'm mad,an absolute nutter," said Dunwoody. "But I believe that in life you have to take a few calculated risks now and again. Anything can happen to you any time and this is better than staying in bed all day long.
"The challenge is because it's so different from racing. It will be the hardest thing I've ever done. Two other expeditions have prepared me for this journey, but they were less than half as long and in higher temperatures. Mentally and physically it will be the ultimate test.
"Completing the journey will give us immense satisfaction, and we're determined to do it."
Dunwoody, 43, will be accompanied by expedition leader Doug Stoup, an American explorer with substantial experience of the Antarctic, and James Fox, a chartered surveyor, photographer and mountaineer.
They were due to leave their base camp at midday yesterday — weather permitting — on a journey they must complete inside 56 days before the weather closes in.
The expedition — called the Interchange Shackleton South Pole Expedition 2007 because it covers the route explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton had hoped to take before his ship,the Endurance, was crushed by the ice in 1915 — has been in the planning for three years, culminating in an intensive training programme, involving running up to 60 miles a week and strength-building.
"I've been getting some strange looks from people when I've been dragging a couple of car tyres around Richmond Park," said Belfast-born Dunwoody. "But it's all part of building up the core strength I'll need to survive."
The men will keep warm by wearing three layers of clothing, four pairs of mittens, specially designed boots and face masks.
"It's important to cover every inch of the body to prevent frostbite," said Dunwoody. "If we get a white-out,we'll only be able to see a couple of feet ahead.We'll be roped together and have to yell at the tops of our voices to keep in contact."
Regular intake from their 200kg of dried food and chocolate will keep their core temperature up. Starting out two-and-a-half stone heavier than his riding weight of 10st, Dunwoody will burn 8,000 calories a day and expects to lose all the excess fat in the gruelling conditions.
"Tt's going to be exhausting," he said. "Knowing that we have to keep going and do it all again the following day will be particularly hard mentally.
"There will be bad days for each of us. Then it will be important for us to keep each other going. We'll have to hope that we don't all have bad days together. But if we do we'll have to find a way through it."
Danger will come in the form of giant crevasses as they follow part of the route from the Filchner Ice Shelf to the Pole completed by the great British explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs 50 years ago.
"You have your worries," said Dunwoody. "But I'm more excited than concerned.All I'm thinking about is getting there. If anything does go wrong, I'm confident we could get to a place where we could be airlifted out.
"We really want to do this and there would be nothing worse than getting, say, 70 miles from the Pole and time was running out or something happened and you didn't make it. If the weather becomes so bad that we're tent-bound,we have about 10 spare days to make up the time."
Dunwoody's fellow former jockeys may joke about the sanity of the man who rode 1,699 winners, was champion jockey three times, won two Grand Nationals and was the only rider of his generation to win The Big Three — the National, the Gold Cup and the Champion Hurdle — but they have willingly lent their support to his venture.
John Francome and Peter Scudamore joined Dunwoody in a charity flat race at Kempton to raise funds for the £150,000 trip, whose main sponsor is currency exchange firm Interchange FX.
"I still miss racing," said Dunwoody. "A few years ago I had an operation which improved the neck injury that forced me to retire and I thought about a comeback. But the doctors said I'd risk breaking my neck and I'm not that stupid.
"Winning the National was the most satisfaction I ever had in racing.
"This is so different. Fifty-six days of endurance compared to 10 minutes around Aintree. I can only imagine what it will be like. People who have been to the South Pole tell me they get hooked and want to go back again. I think I might be the same."
To relieve the inevitable tedium of those endless days,Dunwoody will take his iPod and educate himself with the History of Britain from the 16th century and a course in Italian.
He will also listen to music from one of his favourite bands. And who are they? Snow Patrol, who else?
DEPARTURE
The team left Cape Town for Antarctica last week, flying to the Russian meteorological base at Novolazarevskaya on Friday. They then flew by ski-plane to the edge of the continent near the Filchner Ice Shelf, near where Sir Ernest Shackleton spent the winter of 1915 after his ship was crushed in the ice
660-MILE TREK BEGINS
Yesterday, the 660-mile journey by foot, further than from London to John O'Groats, was due to begin in earnest. Pulling their full, 250lb sleds, they will immediately face the 10,000ft climb up the Slessor Glacier
FINISH — POLE POSITION
If all goes to plan, Dunwoody and his two colleagues hope to be at the South Pole in early February, and back to the comparative warmth of London by February 10
When Richard Dunwoody was the country's finest jump jockey, he was regarded with nothing but admiration by the racing community. Now he admits they all think he is barking mad.
Eight years after a neck injury forced him into retirement, the former Grand National winner set off yesterday with two fellow adventurers on an expedition to reach the South Pole on foot across a route that has never previously been attempted.
To succeed, the three men must travel 660 miles in temperatures reaching minus 58 centigrade, in conditions which will reduce visibility almost to zero and across terrain that will rise to 10,000ft.
They will have no outside support, will drag their supplies behind them on sleds weighing up to 250lb and, at times, progress will be so slow that on some days they will barely cover five miles in eight hours.
They will battle bitter cold,chronic exhaustion and mind-numbing boredom, but success for Dunwoody will rival his Grand National victory on Miinnehoma in 1994.
Although he hopes to raise £100,000 for charity, he admits that he is taking on the challenge simply because it is there.
After giving up a sport that consumed him for 17 years, Dunwoody finds that he still needs to push himself to the limit. His is a classic case of a top sportsman searching for something to replace the buzz that racing provided, and since he quit the saddle Dunwoody has undertaken several expeditions, including a 350-mile ski race to the magnetic North Pole.
"People in racing think I'm mad,an absolute nutter," said Dunwoody. "But I believe that in life you have to take a few calculated risks now and again. Anything can happen to you any time and this is better than staying in bed all day long.
"The challenge is because it's so different from racing. It will be the hardest thing I've ever done. Two other expeditions have prepared me for this journey, but they were less than half as long and in higher temperatures. Mentally and physically it will be the ultimate test.
"Completing the journey will give us immense satisfaction, and we're determined to do it."
Dunwoody, 43, will be accompanied by expedition leader Doug Stoup, an American explorer with substantial experience of the Antarctic, and James Fox, a chartered surveyor, photographer and mountaineer.
They were due to leave their base camp at midday yesterday — weather permitting — on a journey they must complete inside 56 days before the weather closes in.
The expedition — called the Interchange Shackleton South Pole Expedition 2007 because it covers the route explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton had hoped to take before his ship,the Endurance, was crushed by the ice in 1915 — has been in the planning for three years, culminating in an intensive training programme, involving running up to 60 miles a week and strength-building.
"I've been getting some strange looks from people when I've been dragging a couple of car tyres around Richmond Park," said Belfast-born Dunwoody. "But it's all part of building up the core strength I'll need to survive."
The men will keep warm by wearing three layers of clothing, four pairs of mittens, specially designed boots and face masks.
"It's important to cover every inch of the body to prevent frostbite," said Dunwoody. "If we get a white-out,we'll only be able to see a couple of feet ahead.We'll be roped together and have to yell at the tops of our voices to keep in contact."
Regular intake from their 200kg of dried food and chocolate will keep their core temperature up. Starting out two-and-a-half stone heavier than his riding weight of 10st, Dunwoody will burn 8,000 calories a day and expects to lose all the excess fat in the gruelling conditions.
"Tt's going to be exhausting," he said. "Knowing that we have to keep going and do it all again the following day will be particularly hard mentally.
"There will be bad days for each of us. Then it will be important for us to keep each other going. We'll have to hope that we don't all have bad days together. But if we do we'll have to find a way through it."
Danger will come in the form of giant crevasses as they follow part of the route from the Filchner Ice Shelf to the Pole completed by the great British explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs 50 years ago.
"You have your worries," said Dunwoody. "But I'm more excited than concerned.All I'm thinking about is getting there. If anything does go wrong, I'm confident we could get to a place where we could be airlifted out.
"We really want to do this and there would be nothing worse than getting, say, 70 miles from the Pole and time was running out or something happened and you didn't make it. If the weather becomes so bad that we're tent-bound,we have about 10 spare days to make up the time."
Dunwoody's fellow former jockeys may joke about the sanity of the man who rode 1,699 winners, was champion jockey three times, won two Grand Nationals and was the only rider of his generation to win The Big Three — the National, the Gold Cup and the Champion Hurdle — but they have willingly lent their support to his venture.
John Francome and Peter Scudamore joined Dunwoody in a charity flat race at Kempton to raise funds for the £150,000 trip, whose main sponsor is currency exchange firm Interchange FX.
"I still miss racing," said Dunwoody. "A few years ago I had an operation which improved the neck injury that forced me to retire and I thought about a comeback. But the doctors said I'd risk breaking my neck and I'm not that stupid.
"Winning the National was the most satisfaction I ever had in racing.
"This is so different. Fifty-six days of endurance compared to 10 minutes around Aintree. I can only imagine what it will be like. People who have been to the South Pole tell me they get hooked and want to go back again. I think I might be the same."
To relieve the inevitable tedium of those endless days,Dunwoody will take his iPod and educate himself with the History of Britain from the 16th century and a course in Italian.
He will also listen to music from one of his favourite bands. And who are they? Snow Patrol, who else?
DEPARTURE
The team left Cape Town for Antarctica last week, flying to the Russian meteorological base at Novolazarevskaya on Friday. They then flew by ski-plane to the edge of the continent near the Filchner Ice Shelf, near where Sir Ernest Shackleton spent the winter of 1915 after his ship was crushed in the ice
660-MILE TREK BEGINS
Yesterday, the 660-mile journey by foot, further than from London to John O'Groats, was due to begin in earnest. Pulling their full, 250lb sleds, they will immediately face the 10,000ft climb up the Slessor Glacier
FINISH — POLE POSITION
If all goes to plan, Dunwoody and his two colleagues hope to be at the South Pole in early February, and back to the comparative warmth of London by February 10
