Antarctica Marathon | No place for cold feet

KING GEORGE ISLAND, Antarctica — The wind whipped underneath Bellingshausen, the Russian scientific research station, as the runners crouching below gamely tried to secure their lifejackets and backpacks to the stilts that support the base.

A few took pictures as they waited. Some asked other runners, "Do you have any toe warmers? My feet are cold."

Temperatures dipped slightly below freezing, with light snow flurries. With 15-knot winds, the wind-chill temperature was 19 degrees.

Perfect Antarctic conditions.

Runners from around the world, including nine from the Seattle area, were competing in the Antarctica Marathon, one of the most extreme marathons in the world. It's sometimes called the Last Marathon because it's the last place on earth one would think to hold a marathon.

"This is the most difficult marathon experience on the planet," said John "The Penguin" Bingham, a popular writer and author who has been to Antarctica four times for this race and has run in 40 marathons. "There's no way to prepare because you don't know what to expect."

The 26.2-mile course is so grueling runners typically expect to add an hour to an hour and a half to their normal marathon time. The race this year, on Feb. 26, was no different. Runners slogged up and down muddy, snowy hills and leaped across shallow rivers and streams. The mud was so deep at points it pulled one runner's shoe off his foot.

But the most challenging part of the course was the 1.2-kilometer climb up icy Collins Glacier with its steep, 17-percent grade. Because the course is a figure-eight loop, the marathoners had to climb it twice.

"People are really looking for adventure," said Thom Gilligan, the president of Marathon Tours and founder of this race. "There's nothing more extreme than this."

One of those people was Carol O'Hear of Seattle, who did the marathon with her husband, Rob Ardrey. O'Hear was the top finisher from Seattle and the third woman overall out of 45. This year, 145 marathon runners and 40 half-marathon participants finished the race.

Redmond's Jimmy Dean, the sole runner from the Seattle area in the half marathon, finished 10th overall. But for most of the runners, this wasn't about time, it was about the experience.

"People don't get too concerned with time," said Gilligan. "It's just a matter of staying comfortable, staying warm, staying within yourself. Finishing is your goal.

"Antarctica is a magical destination. People talk about this for the rest of their lives."

That was certainly what Pete Spear from Seattle thought when he read about the race three years ago. He immediately e-mailed his former Mercer Island High classmate, Dion Mraz, to see if he would do it with him.

"I read the link and thought it was absolutely ridiculous," said Mraz. "A day later I came back and said, 'Why not? I want to go to Antarctica.' "

Spear and Mraz are veteran Ironman triathletes and used to competing in endurance races, but for some, like longtime friends Josh Adams from Bellevue and Dan Christiansen from Seattle, Antarctica was their first marathon.

Adams paid for Christiansen's $300 deposit as his 30th birthday present. Of course, this left Christiansen paying for the remainder of the trip, which cost upwards of $5,000.

"It was the gift I had to keep paying," laughed Christiansen. "I hadn't considered a marathon or Antarctica. Not being a runner at all, it sounded like a novel idea."

This was John Radel's first marathon, as well. He was a marathoner of sorts, only in a different sport. But the 1988 Junior National marathon canoe-racing champion found Antarctica can humble even the most elite athlete.

Unlike most marathons, there were no manned water stops or aid stations along the course. Because of the remoteness of the area, runners had to either carry their water and food with them or drop them along one of the two designated rest stops.

Radel, from Issaquah, thought he was well prepared because he brought a camelback backpack with 50 ounces of water, and also had three nutrition gels. But he went through everything in the first 13 miles. The second time up the glacier, fatigue set in, and without any supplies, he realized he was in a precarious situation.

"I wasn't sure if I would make it," he said. "I get down off the glacier and this guy, Jerry Lopez, comes up to me and says, 'How are you doing?' I said, 'Awful.' He asked if I had any water left. I said no. He said, 'Have some fruit punch.' It was just straight Gatorade. Everything started to come back."

With spectators limited to a few chinstrap penguins, skuas — large, territorial seagull-like birds that enjoy dive-bombing marathoners — and a lone fur seal, the runners found themselves relying on each other and the handful of researchers from the Russian, Chinese, Uruguayan and Chilean bases who came out to support the runners during the race.

Friendships were formed, even though the runners knew they might never see each other again.

"At the Chinese research station, one of the researchers carefully arranged some water and offered it to us," said Adams. "I wasn't thirsty but I had to share the moment with him."

Late in the afternoon a storm blew into King George Island, causing the wind to pick up and beat down on the remaining runners. As he worked his way down the last loop, Spear began to wonder why he had signed up for this.

As he turned the corner at the Chinese base, he came across Ross Steele, a real-estate agent from New Zealand. The two started running together.

"He helped out a lot," said Spear. "It made such a difference. The marathon was the one thing that bonded everyone together."

Although the Antarctica Marathon cutoff was 6 ½ hours because of the conditions, Gilligan extended the time frame so that all who started would finish.

It took Radel almost 7 ½ hours to complete his first marathon. He was the final finisher from Seattle.

"I finished, which is all I ever wanted," said Radel. "It was more of an experience than I could have asked for. My favorite quote is, 'I wasn't here to impress anybody but myself. And I'm damned impressed.' "

Erin Harvego is a triathlete and runner for the national Snickers marathon team. She is a freelance writer from Long Island, N.Y., who made the trip to Antarctica to run in the marathon. She hopes to run a marathon on every continent.