Polar First: the challenge begins
20/12/2006
Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill, the duo that make up Polar First, began their epic journey to the ends of the earth on 5 December as they set off from Fort Worth, Texas. The adventure will see the bright red helicopter jetting down the length of South America to Antarctica, back up the eastern side of Latin America, through the Caribbean, and up to Canada and the Arctic before heading down through Russia and Europe back to Fort Worth.
The expedition is not only about completing the challenge, but will also be raising awareness and funds for SOS Children’s Villages and hoping to pay a visit to a few of the charity’s projects on the way!
After a successful take off from Fort Worth, the team made good progress down through the US and Mexico before hitting bad weather in Central America. Unfortunately, the low cloud cover made it impossible to land in Mexico City, which also meant the pilots missed out on their visit to the nearby SOS Children’s Village.
Despite the continuing bad weather and the delay to the schedule, the Polar First team managed to hot-foot it down to Panamá and pay the SOS Children’s Village in Panamá City a visit. All the children were very excited to meet the pilots and learn about their exciting adventures and of course, it was great for Jennifer and Colin to finally see SOS Children’s work first hand - and they weren’t disappointed!
Bad weather, control tower problems and all kinds of other delays, meant that the expedition was looking seriously behind schedule, however, the team made it to Lima, Peru in time for a press conference at one of their partner schools in the city. The press conference was an exciting affair, with journalists and representatives from the British Embassy present, and the Polar First team was keen for SOS Children to join in too, so a lucky few children and mothers from the nearby village in Callao and representatives from SOS Children’s Villages Peru flew the flag for the charity and got to meet the pilots and examine the helicopter for themselves!
Keep watching this space for more information on the Polar First expedition, or have a look at www.polarfirst.com