In January 2008 Lost Penguins joined all of the Polar Challenge 2008 competitors in Norway for compulsory training. The week included lectures on a wide range of subjects and a 4 day expedition in close to Arctic conditions. This first-hand experience reinforced the scale of the challenge the lies ahead in April.

The Lost Penguins are yearly alpine skiers, of questionable talent but arguably better than your average Daisy (or Wiggy), so they expected to find cross country a bit sedate. However, cross country bindings even made laps of school field as entertaining as a tree lined black run in the Alps. For straight lines on the flat cross country skiing technique is fairly similar to ice skating: lunging forward onto one foot whilst straightening the other leg propels you forward. To do allow this bindings are fixed to skis at one point which allows them to pivot forward - simple when mastered but to the Penguins on day one a recipe for headaches as they head planted their way around a hundred metre circuit. Thankfully things did get a little better.

Camping on snow and ice was a novelty for the team. Hopefully some of the lessons learnt during first couple of nights won't be forgotten when it comes to the race. These were:

Don't snap one of your tent poles if it's going to be windy.

Vent the tent whilst cooking (in fact at all times if there's two boys on a diet of Pepperami, porridge, and rehydrated curry inside)

Try to keep the flames from the stoves in control rather than flaring onto the walls of the tent (even if it is warm)

And, remember your pee bottle is only a litre big (due to temperatures inside the tent getting as low as minus 40 trips to the loo are only for the sadistic - each Penguin has their own, dedicated, bottle to wee in inside their sleeping bag)

The race is extremely unlikely to be won by faster skiing alone. The length of time skiing is obviously critical and is dependant on breaks during the day, amount of time spent sleeping and tent routine. Timings of breaks is agreed by the team before setting off because for the majority of the time there will be no verbal communication whilst skiing (skiing in single file to reduce drag). According to past Polar Challenge team members this is usually about 5 minutes every hour and a half with any changes of equipment, eating and navigation being done on the move to keep bodies warm. The length of time the team sleeps depends on individual needs but given the 24 hour daylight it's probable that short and long stints will be put in depending on weather, location and terrain. Tent routine can add or loose hours of skiing per day. A good routine might still take as long as 2 hours in at both the start and end of the day but as they found in Norway it can easily take much longer. Unless they make changes before the race, Lost Penguins routine, as practiced in Norway, will be approximately:

Start of the day

0- 15mins Brush the snow out of the tent and get take out the sleeping bags

16- 30mins Boiling snow for breakfast and pack

30- 120mins Breakfast, pack and use the hole

121mins Leave

End of the day

0 - 2mins Skis off and off load pulks

3 - 8mins Mike and Rich put up tent, Connie gets cooking equipment ready to take into the tent

9- 25mins Connie starts to boil snow for water, Mike and Rich finish preparing the tent

26mins Hot drinks

29- 50mins Boiling snow for supper (frozen dried meals), drying and mending kit

50- 120mins Boiling snow, navigation and report safety and location

120 on Bed