Kevin Biggar walked to the South Pole in 2006 / 2007, and he and team mate Jamie Fitzgerald became the first New Zealanders to walk unaided to the pole. We were lucky enough to have Kevin speak to us at Quest today via zoom. He told the kids about his inspiration from hearing stories about Robert Falcon Scott when at school. Kevin spent a lot of time planning and training to prepare for his Antarctic trek.
He had a 160kg sled full of gear to pull in Antarctica. We tried pulling each other on tarpaulins on the field and found it difficult to pull approx 30kg, and impossible to pull more!
Kevin showed us some of the gear he took to keep warm, to keep on track, and to cook food. We heard about how long it took and how hard it was. It takes a lot of courage and determination to walk in such extreme conditions. It took more than 50 days and they walked over 1000km!! Wow - what an adventure!
Kevin has also set a record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean (with Jamie), and they both presented on TVNZ's First Crossings and Intrepid New Zealand. Here is a link to Kevin's website if you want to find out more about him.
Thank you to Max's Mum Lisa for connecting us and helping set this up. And thanks to Kevin for sharing his amazing story!
