KEY POINTS:
Two former champion New Zealand rowers have started their walk to the South Pole.
Kevin Biggar, 37, of Auckland, and Jamie Fitzgerald, 26, of Tauranga - who won a transatlantic rowing race in 2003 - aim to complete the first unsupported trek to the Pole and back.
Their target is to average 25km a day, but Mr Biggar said they expected to start off by hauling their 160kg sleds about 10km a day. Their progress would speed up as they used food and dropped more off in caches for the return leg, he said. Their plan is to reach the Pole before January 4 and speed back to the coast, towed by kites, for the last plane departing the Patriot Hills landing ground at the end of the month.
They are taking three different sizes of kite to handle all wind conditions and hope to average 50km a day on the return journey.
They are the first all-New Zealand expedition to the South Pole for 50 years.
- NZPA
