I’m back from the North Pole and I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but I’d like to do it in a really amazing way! I’d like to be able to share my entire experience with you through explore magazine! Yes, I have been accepted as a finalist to explore magazines Top 30 under 30 contest. I am actually one of the Top 5 and I am currently sitting in second place! I’m really thrilled about this and the only way I can WIN is with your help!

1st: Go to http://www.facebook.com/exploremag and like the page! (Hit the “LIKE” button close to the top of the page)

2nd: After you’ve completed step 1, go to http://ht.ly/4T3kK and click on my picture (I’m in the red wind suit standing at the North Pole). This will open my picture larger and on the left side side of my picture (in the black area) will be a like button. Please “LIKE” it!

You must do these steps in order. The “LIKE” button will not show up unless you “LIKE” explore’s page first.

Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out!

At 7:20 am Thursday April 28th, Ryan Malfara and his team finally reached their goal, the Magnetic north pole. High on adrenaline and pure excitement they enjoyed and cherished the moment.
They haven been camping out there ever since, awaiting the arrival of their “pick-up” plane, which was a tricky endevour with the uncontrollable weather conditions. But the good news is that I have word, that they are on their way back to resolute bay to catch the early flight tomorrow morning out to Ottawa – at which point I will see Ryan at approx. 4:50 pm. I am counting the minutes!
Then on Sunday morning we will be heading out to GRAIL SPRINGS for a 1 week rejuvenation retreat, where I will be hosting a Delicious Week of Knowledge and Ryan will get the chance to rest is very tired feet and very cold body.

From here on in, Ryan will most likely be updating his blog, letting you know about his experience. Sharing stories, insights and I am sure, so much more!
Thank you for all your support!

I was thrilled when I got an email last night that was entitled…”Message from Ryan”. I have been waiting for one of these since her first started. I got my very own private message from Ryan which made me miss him even more, but I also got another one which is to you, his readers, friends, family and support! I thought I would share his letter so you could see not only how good Ryan’s penmanship is (despite his freezing hands) but also to know that he is alright and thinking of you!

Over the next 2 days the two teams have to cover 38 Miles to make it to the official magnetic north pole. This can be done, they have already covered over 290 miles, so this is nothing by comparison. A walk in the very very cold park!

I know by now, the teams and Ryan especially, are just eager to get to the end, to come home and warm up. It has been a very long and cold month. But I think more than anything everyone is excited to share their, stories and their pictures. I know that I can’t wait to see what Ryan has experiences over the last four weeks!

The last leg was very long, with a few rocky bumps along the way and another wind storm, but nothing like the one on leg # 2. They hit a patchy area where communications were lost, but leave it to Ryan to make sure that all got sorted out. He was resourceful and found a way to make sure his phone call went through to give their approximate coordinates along with their daily update:

“Ryan Malfara, who handles Team Internationals comms however had the “wit of mind” to use one of our other contact numbers through to our Checkpoint Team, (and got through) still sitting at the top of Bathurst Island who relayed an approx position to us, which showed them as having done 18 nautical miles and still in the tracks of Slugs. This shows that they are both making determined efforts to make the KCI Checkpoint for the final push for home.”

So they have just left Checkpoint #3. Ryan’s team came in a little later than expected…but all in good time.

Aerial view of the Polar Racers as the checkpoint team passes over them!

Great news! Ryan has crossed over checkpoint # 2 and is now more than halfway there. They have covered most of their distance by now and they will all be arriving at the magnetic North Pole by the end of next week.

See the distance and time difference between the two teams here!

The days are getting longer and even slightly warmer, (-20) instead of (-40). That is a pretty big difference when you are talking relatively!

Ryan’s team made it into Checkpoint # 2 late on Tuesday night. They were slowed down a bit by Ryan’s sore foot. He is alright, and pulling through with every ounce of strength that he’s got in him. Thanks to his good nutrition, he will be just fine! In fact I found it interesting when it was posted on the Polar Race website about what the racers are eating – which is great for people to know just what is consumed during the long hard days of this race.

Here is what the racers are eating...
People often ask what the racers eat during the day?

The answer is a day bag which typically weighs between 0.5-0.7kg each and normally contains most of the following, which gives them sufficient calories (~2500) to see out the day.

* Dried fruit
* Banana chips
* Biscuits (mix of sweet and savory)
* Cheese
* Flapjack
* Nutri-Grain bar
* Mixed nuts
* Chocolate
* Dry meat stick and dry salami
* Sweets
* Brownie bar

This was especially interesting for me to see as Ryan’s nutritionist and fiance - as these items are nothing compared to the super nutrition that Ryan is eating! I just wish I could have provided the same food for all the racers!

Here is what RYAN IS EATING!

That’s Ryan in the middle!

I don’t know if you heard, but the weather conditions were so bad up North that both teams were hunkered down for 3 days. The winds were blowing so fast “40 knots” and it was so cold, that the teams had no choice but to stay warm and stay put!

Not happy with this news, I couldn’t get my head around what Ryan would be doing with himself without moving for 3 days. So I wrote curious email to his best friend and mentor Raymond Aaron who did this race 4 years ago.

Marni: What do you think they are doing in their tents? I imagine things are getting rather dull – not much to do. Any thoughts? are they sleeping, talking, having fun…??
I can only imagine just how “stir crazy” Ryan is going right now being so still!

Raymond: Dear Marni …

They are likely bored to tears in their tent. They have already videotaped each other and written in their journal. That took an hour or so. That still left the majority of two whole days. Not a pleasant thought. However, MUCH more pleasant than being in that extreme cold with very high winds. Jock told me that in those conditions flesh freezes in 30 seconds. So, they are safe and happy inside. And, I can totally assure you that they are peeing and pooping VERY fast. LOL.

Marni: Wow, I can’t even imagine. Is it warm enough in there? Food supply going to be okay?
They will most likely move their CP 2 closer…right? as they still have so much longer to go?

Raymond: It is definitely warm enough. they have sufficient food. they will NOT have sufficient fuel to keep both burners going for two days in the tent but they
know that and they will sometimes have the burners on and sometimes snuggle inside their sleeping bags. They do have sufficient food as Jock requires them to take three days’ extra. The issue is really boredom. CP2 will not move. They still have to cover the same distance, they just are delayed two days.

This is where I got kind of sad. As not only am I dying to see Ryan at this point, I miss him so much. I am also due to pick Ryan up on April 30th in Ottawa as I am hosting a Retreat in Bancroft the following day and Ryan is supposed to come with me, so that we can have a relaxing and rejuvenating week together so he can recover and heal. There is no other way! He has to get there on the 30th – so please send out your good thoughts and motivation to him by commenting below.

The good news is that as of this morning, the update delighted me to say that they are making tracks again and on their way to checkpoint # 2!!!

Report on the weather!

Update from April 14th

“The teams made the effort and what more can you ask but in the dreadful conditions they all soon decided that it is best to be safe.

We had a gusts of over 40 knots in Resolute today so I was keenly (and with some apprehension) waiting news from our teams. I was delighted with their behaviour as both had attempted to travel and made some distance but called it a day before it became dangerous.”

Absolutely the right thing to do!”

Update from April 15th

“With the winds still gusting up to 35 knots and blowing snow no one moved today!

With the weather set to improve steadily from tomorrow we are all hoping for better things. As one team said on the satellite phone. “We are becoming stir crazy but know there is nothing we can do” (for sure this came from Ryan)

The intention if the weather improves as predicted is to move the CP team tomorrow afternoon to await the teams’ arrival.”

As you can see from the Map Below – they are moving closer to the end!

View Larger Map