BEN: You let Antarctica...
...get even just the smallest hold on you...
...and it will eat you up and spit you out.
NARRATOR: Antarctica.
The coldest, windiest and highest continent on Earth.
It's minus 40 today.
NARRATOR: January 2009 saw the first organised race to the South Pole
since Scott and Amundsen's fateful adventure nearly 100 years ago.
We're off.
- NARRATOR: TVpresenter Ben Fogle... - How far is it?
...Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell...
- I'm absolutely exhausted. - ...and Dr Ed Coats
raced over 750km...
Oh, mate, what's happening to me?
...in one of the world's most hostile and remote environments.
We are very much alone.
NARRATOR: They raced 16 hours a day...
It's just got so bad now, it's just not true. It's not funny.
...faced blizzards...
I don't know whether I want to laugh or cry!
...suffered frostbite and exhaustion...
Oh, blimey.
We're not even halfway.
...and risked their lives trying to win one of the toughest races...
Oh, jeez!
...on the planet.
This is their story.
Previously...
One minute!
...the race to the South Pole started on 4th January 2009...
We're on the start line!
...with Ben,James and Ed getting a race-winning start.
(HOOTER BLARES)
(ALL SHOUTING)
But within days, the unrelenting pace took its toll.
I'm really worried about James. He's falling to bits and he admits it.
Yet they managed to keep pushing hard...
He's well and truly ruined his body in a week.
...only to find the Norwegians had beaten them to the checkpoint...
BEN: How on earth have they passed us?
...and to find that James had nearly exhausted himself
to the point of no return.
If anybody was to ask me what his chances of starting the race again would be,
right now, looking at him, probably 50/50.
NARRATOR: It's 6am.
Ben,James and Ed are slowly waking up after their Herculean effort
to reach the South Pole race halfway checkpoint in second place.
(SIGHS)
BEN: How did you sleep, Eddie?
I slept all right.
I had a sore mouth when I woke up, so...
After skiing 373km in just eight days and six hours,
they arrived just four hours behind the race leaders, the Norwegians.
Never in my life have I spent this long in bed.
I swear to God, never.
I got into bed at 4pm and it's now, what, 11 am?
- BEN: Nearly. - Jeez.
BEN: You look a bit better. Your face is a bit...
Bev'll go mad.
The longest I've ever stayed in bed with her is about six hours.
BEN: So you've now spent longer in bed with me than your wife?
- Yep. - (BEN LAUGHS)
You're such a nutter.
NARRATOR: The enforced 24-hour break is a welcome rest for them all,
especially as they arrived in tatters,
with James suffering from severe blisters on his feet...
BEN: At this rate, James, you'll be a mummy by the end of this.
...and with asthma and pneumonia in his left lung.
BEN: For an athlete who's won two gold medals
to suddenly be reduced to taking inhalers
to be able to put one foot in front of the other, that's a pretty big deal.
NARRATOR: The race doctor, Ian Davis,
is still very concerned about whether to let James continue or not.
His chest was dreadful yesterday
and 50/50 was a conservative estimate, I think.
JAMES: That's bad to hear and it's worse when you only have 24 hours
to try and do something about it.
Generally, in my opinion, doctors play it safe,
which is understandable, especially in this environment, and that was my worry -
that I wouldn't be able to convince him to let me carry on.
NARRATOR: For Ben, Ed, and especially James,
the checkpoint has been their first chance to get a decent sleep
after eight days of man-hauling.
The second leg is another 380km
across the unforgiving, flat Antarctic Plateau to the South Pole.
But before they can leave, Dr Ian needs to be satisfied that James
has recovered enough to continue.
How are you feeling?
I'm coughing a lot less.
I didn't wake up feeling I was going to be suffocated for the first time in a week,
which has got to be something, hasn't it?
You've got a little bit of puffiness in your face.
It might get worse.
The worst I've seen is people with their eyes almost shut.
Am I not looking very good, is that what you're saying?
Ah, you're looking grim. (LAUGHS)
- Do you mind if I listen to your chest? - No.
NARRATOR: James's ambitions for the race and dreams of reaching the South Pole...
Big breath in.
...are in the hands of the race doctor.
This is not a sprint. It's an endurance race for the next eight to ten days.
James needs to think about that carefully.
If he's not happy for James to continue, Ben and Ed
could carry on without him.
BEN: He told us he was worried about going on.
He didn't want another ten days of pain ahead of him, and I can fully sympathise.
I was torn, cos the selfish side of me wanted James with us.
We needed him.
Your chest is sounding better to me. There's no wheeze there now.
Your lung fields sound much better to me.
A fairly dramatic improvement, which is encouraging.
18 hours ago, we were almost facing the prospect of you not continuing at all.
I think if we're now in a position where I think you probably can,
but realistically not doing 110%, then that's up to you to manage as well.
He's fit to start the race again today. If he starts today feeling really good,
because he's full of antibiotics, steroids and pain relief
and his feet are nicely wrapped up,
he may just go like a bull in a china shop.
I want to make sure I'm holding up my end of the bargain
and letting those guys fulfil what they set out to do.
But without injuring yourself, as well.
Without injuring myself till the last day.
It would be a terrible shame if you came to within 50km of the Pole
and you were just too ill to continue and we had to come and pull you out.
That would be a disaster, wouldn't it?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
He knows that he's pushed himself probably beyond the limit in the last few days
and, consequently, he's become unwell to the point where it frightened him.
I'm sure he'd admit that himself.
JAMES: Really chuffed that it's not a problem to carry on.
That would've been the worst.
But it doesn't change the fact that by pushing on like I did,
it hasn't been the best for the other guys. And that's not fair.
BEN: The doc gave him the green light and James gave himself the go-ahead
and decided to continue, and that was a huge relief.
JAMES: There's no part of me that didn't want to carry on,
and there's no way I wasn't going to carry on.
I think that's what's made me reassess a bit of how I behave on the second leg.
NARRATOR: With departure only a few hours away,
they prepare for the second half.
At 11.40, the two Norwegians in first place
set off on their final leg to the South Pole.
They're leading the race by four hours and 24 minutes.
- OK? - OK, go for it, guys!
NARRATOR: And then, all too soon,
it's the end of Ben,James and Ed's enforced 24-hour break too.
Yeah, I'm feeling ready. I'm a bit anxious. I think we're kind of ready.
Only time will tell with James and his feet and chest and stuff.
NARRATOR: It's a difficult decision -
whether to take the doctor's advice or to push hard and try to win the race.
JAMES: Is this how I want to start a 400km trek? No.
I'm not lying about it. I've got to get my head round it. I look like an Eskimo
with a puffed-up face, I've got knackered feet, knackered lips, the cold...
I could easily lie in a tent for a week and still not feel better, but...
...that's not an option. I've got to get out there and get stuck into it.
DR IAN DAVIS: It will be very tough for them.
They know that to win they need to make time up
and to win they need to go faster, and we already know that James, perhaps,
needs to go a bit slower. So they've got this dichotomy of the problems they face.
I wish them the best of luck. It's a difficult decision to make.
It's a harsh, horrible environment, and it'll get worse.
It's going to get colder, and you know, the risk of injury is going to go up
the closer we get to the Pole.
NARRATOR: And then, at 15.55 on 13th January, the race is back on.
OK, then. Three, two, one, go!
- Your time is now... - 15.55.
...15.55.
Go on, guys!
NARRATOR: Ben,James and Ed set off on the last leg of the South Pole race.
BEN: As we headed off from that checkpoint there was nothing
to stop us, between us and the South Pole.
MAN: James is going to be in a dilemma as to whether he takes his time,
which is what the doctors have advised him,
and finishes, or pushes too early, and if he does push too early,
he may make it to the finish, but he won't win.
NARRATOR: As they head off,
they know they're close on the heels of the Norwegians.
But they also know that other teams will be following behind them.
The right strategy will be key.
JAMES: We started as a three, and I want us to finish as a three,
the same way I wanted to finish as a three when Ben was in hospital.
It hasn't changed.
BEN: The bigger picture for me is getting all of us to the South Pole,
whether we're last or whether we do it first.
JAMES: The doctor's parting words were,
''Don't go off too hard and don't ski for too long,''
which we obviously ignored! (LAUGHS)
NARRATOR: Four hours later, and they're still skiing and racking up the miles.
But they have a mountain to climb.
It's another 400km across the vast, exposed Antarctic plateau,
and already James is back into full race-mode.
JAMES: I just look behind me and I can see the other two guys.
The checkpoint's out of sight -
out of sight, out of mind.
Can't stop me now.
NARRATOR: To keep going, they dig deep,
and for James, that means thinking of his family back at home,
especially his six-year-old son, Croyde.
JAMES: I'm missing him so much.
As much as I just miss his company, cos he's a funny little guy,
as much as I'd just love him to understand where I've been.
And...you know, maybe one day...
...me and him will do something like this together.
That'd be amazing.
NARRATOR: Every day, they make two calls to the race organisers.
One's a safety call to confirm their location,
the other's a diary call to let the outside world know
how they're getting on.
BEN: James, the lucky man, gets to do the diary call today.
We've been told to keep it all about the race and out here,
and James is going to do one for Croyde today, his son.
We think, ''Sod the rules!'' (LAUGHS)
In the meantime, I'm going to use this opportunity to go for a poo.
Hi, this is James Cracknell from Antarctica.
Tonight, though, it's Daddy, as this message is for Croyde.
Bunny Rabbit, how are you doing?
I hear you're back at school now and you went to Egypt
and loved your swimming.
It's very cold here today, but it's also nice and sunny.
We've reached halfway.
We had a day off, of which Daddy spent most of it in bed,
and there was no little boy coming to ask him if it was time for porridge,
only Ben who made my porridge.
Ben, at the moment, is doing a poo next to me in the snow.
He's dug a big hole and he's doing a nice big poo
cos he's eaten lots of food, like a good boy.
Give Mummy a big kiss and the big bump a kiss as well,
and tell her not to worry that she has a fat bum.
All right, lots of love, little man. Speak soon, bye.
BEN: That was nice.
It felt nice. Nice.
How cool is that - that he's going to be listening to that?
That's going to mean so much to him.
Do you know what the favourite bit of the whole story will be?
The poo? (LAUGHS)
I had to put it in. It's the only thing he asks about!
If I can entertain your son, James, then whatever I can do...
- ED: Good stuff. That's great. - JAMES: Aw, that's nice.
NARRATOR: But then it's back to racing to the South Pole.
They ski on until two in the morning.
It's race day 11-
the first full day out of the checkpoint.
Ben,James and Ed are still in second place,
chasing the Norwegians in front.
- Morning, Eddie! - Morning, Ben!
It's good to see you here. Up for a ski?
Yeah. It's a nice day and all that.
ED: We all skied really well yesterday,
and it was so beautiful last night. The scenery last night,
with the snow drifting across the ice, it was like being on another planet,
so that made it special for me. I loved it.
BEN: On a sunny day, when there's no wind,
and you can see for miles and miles,
and you've got all these different shadows, because every ripple
in the snow creates a little shadow,
it's just extraordinary - it's almost indescribably beautiful.
I'm now going past James's pulk.
Hey, buddy!
NARRATOR: It's the team's first full day back on their race routine.
Starting at 10am,
they ski for 16 hours
until two the next morning.
They only stop for short, five-minute breaks
every two hours.
BEN: Basically, I do this for two hours, and then...
either Eddie or James will take over for the next two hours.
The good thing is that every step I take now,
every movement of the ski, every glide across the snow,
is a step closer to the South Pole.
NARRATOR: Contrary to the doctor's orders to go slow,
Ben,James and Ed are once again pushing the miles.
It's time to have a quick pee.
(RUNNING WATER)
I drank a lot this morning.
NARRATOR: But the daily routine is also a daily grind.
James is recovering from pneumonia and asthma,
and his blisters aren't getting any better.
Sore old feet.
James is taking a cocktail of medicines
for his pneumonia
and strong painkillers for his blisters.
Dr Ed is in charge.
These are James's antibiotics, or one of them.
He's on two antibiotics - erythromycin and metronidazole.
Thanks very much.
I like the fact that you took the steroids, but not the antibiotics.
Typical athlete!
NARRATOR: Then it's off again.
Another two hours until the next rest stop.
But the endless skiing is getting to James.
ED: I'm just skiing along behind him now and I can see his right foot
is really hindering him, and... Yeah, poor guy.
We need to get him through this.
BEN: There was a noticeable change in James.
He was stopping a lot to redo boots.
I'd like the thing off.
BEN: He was very uncomfortable.
No-one ever said Antarctica was going to be easy.
If you don't respect this place,
it will eat you up
and spit you out.
BEN: It was kind of heartbreaking to see him, a broken...individual.
But, you know what, it will just make...
getting to the end that much sweeter.
NARRATOR: Ben and Ed are helping James as much as they can.
BEN: How are you guys doing? James?
JAMES: We're going to have to either swap weight, or slow down - I can't do this.
BEN: I'm feeling very strong, so I'm very happy to take some weight.
ED: Shall I take your day sack, James?
ED: Food? OK.
NARRATOR: They're sharing some of James's load.
With some of the weight shared out,
they continue through the 24-hour daylight until their 2am stop.
BEN: So yesterday we covered 46km.
Got in at 2am.
I got to sleep at about 3.30.
And it's now 8.
And we're out of here at 10. It's like Groundhog Day.
We do it all over again!
NARRATOR: The precious minutes in the tent in the morning...
Hi! Anyone want a hot drink?
...give the team a brief respite
from the relentless skiing and unforgiving cold.
One of my...
favourite things of the day
is that Marina packs me a little bundle of...
photographs. I was actually instructed not to let James see this little bundle,
but he's seen it already.
Um, cos of the weight.
And these are the ones, some of the ones that I've opened so far.
This one does make me laugh. This is...
this is from when James and I rowed across the Atlantic.
And that's Lynn. I don't need to say very much more.
I love this one. This is Marina and my dog.
That's on one of our first dates down in Sussex.
JAMES: You took her away for a dirty weekend on one of your first dates?
- Yeah. - That's terrible.
And that's a good one. That is my wife and myself on our honeymoon
up in the Outer Hebrides.
I always used to think the Outer Hebrides were cold!
It's got nothing on here, I tell you!
NARRATOR: Every day they wake up at eight, have breakfast
and then prepare for the gruelling day ahead.
BEN: There's mine, all polished off, like a good boy.
Could eat another one of those. And that's my cup
of coffee.
NARRATOR: But this morning is the first time that Ben and James
have let Ed use the stoves
to make breakfast.
The last time he did it in Switzerland, three months ago,
it nearly ended in disaster.
BEN: We'll talk quietly. Just let Eddie do the stoves.
Yes. And we're still here.
I was...
asleep like...
Awesome.
NARRATOR: While Ed's outside,
Ben and James discuss their anxieties.
- Were you slightly on edge? - I was a little bit. You?
- Yup! - Perfect, though.
- Yeah. - Faster than us.
- Do you think we can let him do them now? - Absolutely.
BEN: Is that one of your biggest fears, though?
It was certainly my worry.
But not at all necessary.
NARRATOR: But with one problem solved,
another arises.
Have you still got tingly fingers?
Yeah. My fingers...all the ends are tingly. How are yours?
- They're all tingly, but the one here... - Jeez, what's that?
- Have you got any feeling there? - No.
I can't see why you'd get a blister on the end.
I hate to say it, James,
but that looks like frostbite to me.
Don't say that.
NARRATOR: Frostbite is when the cold freezes you.
It can cause irreparable damage.
If not managed carefully, it can quickly deteriorate
and lead to amputation of the damaged area.
I think we should tell Dr Ian, the race doctor, about that.
NARRATOR: The race organisers will pull James off the race
if it gets too serious.
BEN: Frostbite is something to be very embarrassed about.
You know, where in England, we go, ''Wow! Wow! You got frostbite!'',
most other nations go, ''What a plonker.''
It's not a badge of honour.
NARRATOR: It's yet another injury for James to deal with,
and another worry for the team.
(WIND WHISTLES)
ED: Obviously, a cold injury out here
is a reality
and he can't feel the end of his finger,
and it looks very dusky.
I'm just hoping that it's not a frostbite injury - it's something else -
which would be really good.
I know it's on his mind, and it's been on my mind all day, really.
James is being typically...stubborn
about, er...not calling the doctor straight away.
It does seem slightly foolhardy. He could lose the finger.
You know, he's got a chest infection, his feet are shot to bits
with blisters...
and now frostbite on his finger.
How are you doing, matey?
NARRATOR: As they stop for one of their regular rest breaks,
James's frozen finger is preying on his mind.
JAMES: I feel all this, and I can't feel that at all. It feels like a bit of wood.
You don't look after yourself for a little bit of time out here
- and you're in trouble. - BEN: What's going through your mind now?
Is it... I mean, what can you do?
Genuinely, what's going through my mind?
Beverley's going to tell me off. That's genuinely what's going through my mind.
BEN: So what's the next course of action? Are you going to tell the doc?
I guess my next course of action would be ignore it and hope it gets better.
I don't think we're going to let that happen, I'm afraid, James.
Um...
Eddie, what should we do about the finger?
I think we should make a call to the emergency line and just let them know...
BEN: James, do you want to call the doctor now?
JAMES: Do it at the sched call. It's only a few hours away.
- Oh, dear. He's a difficult guy. - BEN: I kind of agree with Ed.
You won't hold us responsible if you lose your finger?
ED: I think Bev might hold us responsible.
Yeah.
Sorry, Bev.
Right - are we nearly going to go on?
NARRATOR: Finally, at 7pm, they stop to make
their regular scheduled call to the race organisers
to let them know their location,
but also to tell the team doctors about James's finger.
James has possibly got frostbite of one of his fingers.
It probably needs to be seen and treated. Well...
given some advice on urgently, I think, really.
NARRATOR: The race doctors are a five-hour drive away.
Until they can get to James,
they'll have to keep going.
BEN: There are the support vehicles...
...hopefully with Deirdre, the doctor, and, er...
she'll be able to have a look and see what the implications are.
NARRATOR: With a serious condition like frostbite,
the race doctors need to assess James as quickly as possible.
Dr Deirdre Galbraith has arrived
to see whether they need to pull James off the race.
Hi, there.
- BEN: Help is at hand. - JAMES: Hello.
Yeah, that's frostbite. You can put it back in again now.
Keep it warm.
What I saw today was a blood-filled blister at the tip of the finger,
which suggests significant frostbite.
It's not just superficial, which means it has been a significant cold injury.
What I'd advise right now is, you can manage frostbite,
to prevent it getting worse,
but it has to be your absolute, one and only, 100% chore
all the time. That finger will easily get worse.
Out here, the chances of it getting worse are very, very high.
It could be a reason for him not continuing.
So it's a very serious problem.
- BEN: Thank you very much. - No problem. See you later.
- Bye. - Bye.
NARRATOR: For now, the race organisers are prepared
to let James carry on with the race.
But if it gets any worse, he may be pulled off.
I'm in a bit of shock, really.
I thought she was going to say, ''It's frost nip and that's what happens.''
BEN: Someone's going to be in trouble with Bev!
What's she going to say?
She's going to go ballistic!
Isn't she?
Yeah. It was the last thing she said -
- ''Don't get frostbite.'' - What did she say?
It was the last thing she said - ''Don't get frostbite.''
Well, she said, ''Don't get frostbite on your willy.''
- So you got it on your finger instead! - At least that's my way out.
BEN: Are you guys nearly ready to go? Cos it's starting to get...
JAMES: Cold. Yeah. You don't want to get frostbite(!)
- (JAMES SNIGGERS) - BEN: You haven't had hypothermia yet.
Not yet!
I need to go to the toilet.
Can someone hold it, please?
Holder!
I can't hold my willy.
Got my finger.
ED: I think Ben's your wingman for this.
James is at risk of having...
the problem that Ranulph Fiennes had
where the ends of your fingers become gangrenous and black
and necrotic and you have to hack them off yourself when you get home.
Oh, I really do feel sorry for James. He's had a helluva lot.
But he's a glutton for punishment,
and it's kind of come back to bite him on the bum a little bit on this trip.
JAMES: Literally, what else can go wrong now?
NARRATOR: But by the end of another 16-hour day,
and another 45 kilometres,
it's not just James with problems.
Ed's feet are starting to fall apart, too.
Ugh! This toenail's come off.
But it's still attached at the side,
so I'm just going to put some tape round it and leave it on.
NARRATOR: And Ben is struggling with the stoves.
Everything's totally frozen.
The stoves are their lifeline.
They provide warmth to heat the tent and to melt snow for water.
If Ben can't get them to work, it's a life-threatening problem.
I'm going to get this one going, anyway,
so that we can...
Otherwise, we'll be here...for ever.
I don't know what's going on with this one, as well.
It's weird.
NARRATOR: They have two stoves and an emergency one, but all three have failed.
- It's not getting any pressure? - No pressure at all, no.
With each passing minute, they're getting colder
and eating into valuable rest time.
Finally, Ben gets a stove to light. It's taken over half an hour
and is yet another worry.
Usually, within about 45 minutes of actually stopping,
taking your skis off and the tent coming out off the pulk,
we're usually eating dinner.
NARRATOR: The delay with the stoves has taken it out of Ben.
JAMES: Do you want to get your head down early, Ben?
- You're not your normal, chirpy self. - For some reason,
I'm...I'm quite cold and...
''addled'' is the word I'd use.
It's probably to do with two 17... 16-hour days in a row, um...
and the stoves not working - that really annoys me.
They've worked every day perfectly, so it's really annoying they didn't tonight.
I've got very cold hands, and having seen
what's happened to James's, I'm a bit concerned.
NARRATOR: For the first time, Ben's also showing signs
of the constant battle with Antarctica.
JAMES: I think today showed
it'd be nice to get there quickly, really, rather than...
The stoves...
Little things are starting to break - Ben's kit, the stoves, my finger.
I think the next two days are going to be hard.
The weather's not as nice. Everyone's mood drops when the weather's not as good.
NARRATOR: Ben,James and Ed
have been on the ice for 30 days now.
They still have 223km to go.
The race is as much a mental battle as a physical one.
BEN: James, tell me you didn't just do what I think you did.
Yeah. Drinking my aspirins.
Cos you confused me by giving me aspirin. I'd done all my painkillers.
BEN: You've just drunk your own wee.
- Mouthful of piss. - Argh!
(BEN LAUGHS)
- BEN: Oh...! - ED: Could it get any worse?!
Frostbite, blisters,
chest infection needing steroids, burnt lips,
face like an Eskimo, ginger beard,
drunk my own piss.
(BEN LAUGHS) So Antarctica is everything you thought it would be.
I can't... (SIGHING)
It's just got so bad now, it's just not true. It's not funny.
Do you know what the sad thing is?
It's that I can't be arsed to wash my teeth.
NARRATOR: With no knowledge of their race position,
all the team can do is race hard against themselves.
All right, we're off.
Another day...
...another dollar.
Always slightly sore feet in the morning.
It's just...
waking up with the, er...blisters...
...and everything else...
...absolutely sore and raw.
Oh, jeez!
NARRATOR: Ben,James and Ed have set themselves a gruelling strategy
that could see them win the race,
but could also see them burn out before the finish.
JAMES: I didn't have a comfortable step,
I would say, in the race from about day three onwards,
which sort of knocked off a bit of my enjoyment of it.
BEN: It's really cold today.
(SHIVERING) About...
minus 35.
Minus 45 with wind chill.
(SHIVERING) Oh, I can't stop shaking.
It's the coldest I've been since I've been out here.
BEN: It was bitterly cold. We'd noticed a real drop in temperature, and above all,
James was starting to fall to bits again.
JAMES: I thought if I had prepared very well physically...
It's just gradually...taking...
more and more of a...toll on us - a toll on our bodies.
ED: We were pushing day after day after day,
and your body starts to get worn out and tired.
That, I think,
was the experience of Antarctica which I was expecting and fearing.
NARRATOR: The endless days of physical exertion and the unforgiving cold
is grinding them down.
The tension rises as they slow down.
BEN: It was a strange day. You could tell things weren't quite right.
BEN: Eddie and I have been talking about strategy and suggestions.
In the last few days, we've gone from 42 to 40,
and now we're struggling with that.
So we're debating
how far we go on, whether we go on, all that sort of stuff.
This is my question. Do we go on to two, or do we stop earlier,
and get an extra hour?
You sort your feet out, get stronger, because...
JAMES: No, go on to two.
It's all about plodding on.
- I just don't see getting... - OK, yeah.
But you were a kilometre behind Ben there.
- My ski kept breaking. - Right, OK.
It popped out twice after you'd gone.
BEN: So you feel quite strongly that we should go on, James?
Well, I don't think an extra hour or two hours is going to matter to my feet.
My feet are buggered from now until the end of the race.
BEN: So, final decision, James?
Mine is to go on and just stick to our...our strategy.
BEN: Eddie suggested maybe
we, er...stop
an hour early or so, but, er... Cracknell wasn't having any of it.
''But at what cost?'' is what I've said.
ED: I don't like the fact that we're not very flexible as a team,
in terms of being able to maybe stop a bit early if it looks like a good decision,
or maybe go a little bit longer, and...
that does annoy me a little bit.
NARRATOR: With over 200km to go, the team push on.
James is driving them forwards.
But his inflexibility is endangering them all.
ED: There's a part of his personality
which doesn't allow him to stop.
Your body's got this mechanism where it says, ''Enough is enough,''and I felt
like we were throwing away all the hard work we'd done
in just continuing blindly.
BEN: James is having all sorts of problems today.
He's had to stop three or four times, so we've just left him,
which I feel slightly anxious about.
James said he'd catch us up and we'd all go on together.
BEN: He didn't have a GPS. He didn't have a satellite phone.
He...he had nothing.
If he'd lost us, that would have been it.
It would have been curtains - absolutely no doubt about it.
Not big, not clever, but we went on, and an hour later, he caught us up,
and in that hour period, Ed and I just looked at each other and shook our heads
and said, ''What are we doing? Why have we left James behind?''
BEN: The South Pole seemed...
you know, within our grasp,
but now, four days on,
it just looks...further away than ever.
(WIND WHISTLES)
NARRATOR: But as soon as they set off from their regular rest break,
James stops again.
BEN: He's just stopped here. I'm not sure what's going on.
ED: Every day we just push on blindly and don't take extra rests.
- We're not... - I just...
It's starting to annoy me a little bit, because I've said it so many times now.
There are three of us. Our goal is the South Pole.
Ben, don't say what you think James wants to hear. Say what you think.
Keeping this up, I don't know that I could do a big, hard push at the end.
ED: Right now, we're not functioning as a team.
BEN: James, how come we have to stop so often for you?
JAMES: What do you want to do, then, Ed?
- Say what you want to do now. - I think we should keep going until 30...
well, maybe 37, 40k, if you can do it, and then get into our sleeping bags.
What do you think of that?
I'll do whatever you want to do. I'm BLEEP off with it all now.
I've got to be honest, mate - it's really got to the point where it's a bit stupid.
I'm afraid we're at minus 40, I've got cold hands,
and I've got to speak my mind, because I want to look after you guys.
- I know you do. - I'm not trying to get an early night.
I'm trying to make sure that we don't kill ourselves in the next six days.
BEN: Eddie, I'm backing you. I'm not disagreeing with you.
- I'm backing you, yeah? - Oh...!
Right.
OK, I'll follow.
BEN: James kind of stormed off in a bit of a huff,
and then, pretty much...
How do I describe it? ...he collapsed in a pile.
He just kind of was hunched over his ski poles, sobbing -
absolutely sobbing his eyes out.
He just had a big emotional breakdown in front of us.
You are a BLEEP ox when it comes to this.
You're not letting us down. You're not letting me down, man.
Listen to me. You are not letting us BLEEP down.
You both work your nuts off, and then...
you've got a team-mate who's knackered his feet,
- got frostbite and... - BEN: James, I hate it,
and the thing I hate the most is when you say sorry for something -
when you say sorry for stopping, when you say sorry for doing your blisters...
Because why are you saying sorry? I don't understand what the point of it...
- You move on and I stop us all the time. - We want to enjoy this.
(IN DESPERATION) We want to enjoy this!
We've got six days to go, probably 250km to ski.
You've still got a long way to go on those feet, mate,
and I really think you need to look after them.
- Do you remember the other day...? - You're not a disappointment at all.
Not one bit.
BEN: He was just...
sobbing his eyes out about how...how...
he was affecting us and how he was letting us down.
Ed said, ''Right,
''we are stopping now. We're putting the tent up.''
It was the first time since the three of us formed a team
that Eddie made the decision, and it was Eddie's decision.
ED: Suddenly standing next to this great guy
who's an Olympic...
double Olympic gold medallist,
I suddenly felt like I had to say something,
like I had to stop him and try and make him realise what he was doing to himself
and also to us.
I didn't care if he didn't like me any more, and I didn't care if he thought
I was, you know, being critical.
I just feel like I've let people down, really.
ED: I think he must have had a realisation. I don't know what happened,
but he... I think he said, ''I'm letting you all down.''
And he wasn't letting us down. James was not letting any of us down.
It kind of had to happen, I think.
Look - is he falling asleep already? I mean, that's...
that sums it up.
That's...that's pretty much where we are.
You're going... It's all right. It's all right.
Come and just have a quick lie-down there.
And we put him in his sleeping bag,
and it was a pretty emotional night.
It's the lowest point for me.
I don't know why it was the lowest point.
It was probably because I saw a very good friend of mine fall to pieces.
But when you see them fall to pieces emotionally, as well, it's awful.
NARRATOR: It's the morning after James's collapse and Ben's up first.
BEN: / know for a fact, when we came out here,
all the other teams wanted to beat James Cracknell.
That's a hard thing to live with, that everyone always wants to go home and say,
''I beat a double gold-winning medallist.''
So for James, there's always that extra pressure.
JAMES: I woke up about 5am and saw you two sleeping
and I felt so guilty - we are a team of three, and this tent would be pitched...
...12km further on if it wasn't for me.
JAMES: I wasn't the tower of strength that I had in my mind
that I would be, and...I had to come to terms with that and fight through it.
Stopping was... it was a good decision. Um...
You and Ben have come through problems - bad back, bad feet - and I haven't.
I've put yesterday behind us. The sun is shining. It's a new day.
For all the things which I find so difficult to understand about James -
his stubbornness, difficultness - all of those things
make him the most determined person I think I've ever met.
Whilst he might give you a hard time,
he has the heart of a lion, and he is a really kind-hearted guy.
Thank God. That's why he has achieved everything he has in his lifetime.
NARRATOR: They've covered 530km since the race began.
The little extra rest and time to recover
has raised their spirits.
With a renewed vigour,
they set off once again, crossing the flat,
bleak Antarctic Plateau
under the bright, 24-hour sunlight.
And then... every polar explorer's worst nightmare.
BEN: It's 2am in the morning and we've found ourselves in another crevasse field.
I was skiing along and suddenly felt the ground just giving way.
It was absolutely petrifying.
NARRATOR: Crevasses are cracks in the ice that can develop into cavernous holes -
some big enough to swallow cathedrals.
ED: The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end,
and I felt an adrenaline rush and went white as a sheet, Ben said.
NARRATOR: They're often covered over by snow,
undetectable until it's too late.
They can be lethal.
ED: I heard what sounded like a shotgun going off,
and felt the ground shudder below my feet.
I really, really was getting quite scared.
BEN: It was one of the scariest moments of my life.
NARRATOR: All the competitors have been trained to deal with crevasses.
At the first sign of one, they should rope up.
Then, if someone falls in, the others can try to pull their team-mate out.
But one mistake could be their last.
Eddie and I said that we wanted to put harnesses on
and James just stormed ahead, blindly, headphones on.
''Oh, I don't mind. I'll lead. I'll fall down first.''
ED: I was shocked. I was really amazed. If you fall down a crevasse
and your name is James Cracknell and you're on skis,
you've got a better chance of coming out if you're attached to two guys.
BEN: Eddie and I just looked at each other,just shook our heads.
ED: His words to me were,
''The state I'm in, I'm no use to you even if you are on a rope.''
BEN: I was so angry. It was so selfish of James
to do that - ''I'm all right, Jack. I don't care if I die.''
I felt that it was...solid ground. I hadn't felt it move beneath me.
And so I said,
''I'll go ahead - I'll lead.'' And I was confident and nothing happened.
ED: How could I have ever looked Bev in the eye and said, ''I'm really sorry.
''We just didn't rope up.'' ''Why didn't you rope up?''
''It seemed like a hassle.''
Do you know, that's just...
I just...I just feel ashamed that I can be sitting here
talking that we didn't do it - it's just amazing.
BEN: He's a very selfish man, James, sometimes.
He's got a family at home, man.
For the sake of putting on a harness... Jesus!
The question I did ask myself
was, ''Would I make this decision at ten o'clock in the morning...
''...that I'm making at two o'clock in the morning?''
That's the one thing I couldn't probably answer. I just wanted to go to bed.
And that may be the one thing that changed -
that made it a more foolhardy decision.
BEN: Wow! We're lucky people to have got through those crevasse fields.
It was terrifying.
NARRATOR: There's nothing they can do but draw a line under it
and carry on to the South Pole as quickly as possible.
BEN: Morning.
It's 19th January.
I feel we're starting to count down, finally.
NARRATOR: Ben,James and Ed have been skiing across Antarctica
for one month.
The relentless racing
and the unforgiving cold is wearing them down.
And now it's got to Ben, too.
BEN: For the first few weeks out here, I was fine - absolutely fine.
I was actually kind of chuckling to myself
that I was coping so well.
And then suddenly just found a little weakness.
It's quite shocking how it can do that to you.
My main personal concern this morning
is if you look at the front of the nose, down there, it's a little bit waxy.
And, er...it's probably frost nip - on my nose!
Oh, man!
I don't have the smallest nose in the world,
and I'd always been a bit worried about that - I'd been warned about it.
And suddenly, I had it on my nose! Nothing I could do except worry,
and I did - I worried a lot - and so, suddenly,
from one team-mate with frostbite, we were two.
Oh, please don't get a frostbitten nose!
NARRATOR: All Ben can do
is protect his nose from the extreme cold and carry on.
Over the next two days, they stick to their routine,
clocking up the miles, racing to reach the South Pole as quickly as they can.
And then the day they've all been waiting for.
JAMES: On the morning
of our long ski to the end,
basically, this is total...
total plateau.
Nothing...at all.
Nobody.
No sound, no life.
Just our little red tent.
Just 70km lie between us and the South Pole.
I can't really get my head around it.
You know, we've been on our skis for...
16 hours a day for nearly three weeks now.
NARRATOR: With only 70km to go,
Ben,James and Ed decide to give it one final push to the finish line.
JAMES: We knew
we're staring down the barrel of over 24 hours on the skis,
but it would be the last 24 hours.
NARRATOR: As they do their last preparations in the tent,
they ready themselves for the psychological challenge ahead.
ED: Mentally, I've realised you can dig a lot deeper than you think you can.
Going that extra yard, although it sounds cheesy, makes such a difference.
You guys got me through it and...
I really, genuinely thank you both for this opportunity,
cos it's changed my life hugely, so...
it means a lot. Thanks, guys.
- JAMES: OK. - BEN: Ed,
you remember that, if this has been your Olympics, this is the Olympic final.
NARRATOR: For Ed, this has been an incredible journey.
Just six months ago,
Ben and James chose him to join them.
Now, with only hours left, his emotions overflow.
JAMES: Come on, mate. You've done awesomely. You've done SO well.
You've done so well. It's been fantastic.
I've got to say...
um...it's been amazing. I...I doubted myself,
at the beginning, which is why I had so much difficulty.
But, um...I know... I know we can do it now.
JAMES: It's been tough in a different way from anything else I've ever done before.
The...solitude...
the quiet of it all,
but most of all, I think, the feeling of being honoured
to be able to experience this environment.
BEN: You know, this is something I have waited all my life for -
to have trekked nearly 1,000km to the South Pole -
and we've nearly done it.
NARRATOR: They left the halfway checkpoint in second place, only four hours behind
their race rivals, the Norwegians, and 24 hours ahead of the next team.
For the past eight days, that's ALL they've known.
BEN: We hadn't seen sight nor sound of anyone else,
and then, on that final day, we saw a trail.
We've been alone for how many days?
- About... - JAMES: Six? Seven?
- Six, seven, eight. - Since the 13th.
Since the midway point, we haven't seen another team - no sign or anything -
until now... we've just spotted these tracks.
James is just going up beside them.
So we assume those tracks are Norwegians.
JAMES: We kind of knew they'd be there,
but there was a little bit of hope that they wouldn't be there.
Now the question was whether our long day had caught them up when they were asleep,
but...they were...deep down, I knew, too good to be caught napping.
ED: It was a tough, tough way to end the race.
NARRATOR..As they head into their last day, they can hardly hold it together.
Ben is exhausted and worried about the frostbite on his nose.
This is probably just about as far as I've ever pushed myself.
Really...it's one of the hardest things I've ever done.
James has pushed himself to the edge.
He has severe blisters and frostbitten fingers.
Everyone here is falling apart.
And...we've got to get through it.
And Ed is on his last legs.
ED: On that last day, I really was in a lot of pain. I had awful bowel cramps.
I was really struggling, really in pain.
I think he found it very hard to get into a rhythm, and he got quite down,
which...it definitely affected me.
BEN: So, what's up between you two?
Cos there's an atmosphere you can slice with a knife.
For the last...whatever, I've felt absolutely...shocking.
JAMES: It was probably the one time I think, as a team, we sort of
started to break down. You know, flippant comments I made to Ed
taken...maybe the wrong way or the right way had an effect,
and it was just... it was just tetchy, horrible...
James skied up to me and he said, ''Are you OK? What's up?''
Quite caring, and I thought... ''Do I say anything?''
And I did, I said, ''Oh, I've got really bad stomach cramps.
''Had them now since we left camp.''
And he just went, ''There's always something with you, isn't there?''
I got the eighth different complaint of the day
followed by, ''I'm fighting through it.''
BEN: But he's allowed to feel a bit sick, isn't he?
- He is, but I got frustrated. - ED: I just thought to myself,
''Why ask me what's wrong with me if you're just going to say that remark?''
What's the point of coming and asking me how I'm feeling
if you're then just going to make a sarcastic remark?
You just said to me, ''Oh, there's always something, isn't there?''
I wouldn't stop and see a patient and say, ''How are you? Are you in pain?''
And then if they say, ''Yeah, it's agony,''
go, ''Oh, flippin' hell, sort yourself out,'' you know.
ED: I'm sorry, James, if I'm not as strong as you are.
Sometimes I wish you could be a bit more sensitive, that's all.
NARRATOR: They set off, only hours away from their final goal.
But the mood is low.
BEN: I just feel a bit sorry for Ed, cos he looked after James so much.
The bottom line is that James isn't very tolerant
and Ed is very sensitive.
JAMES: It came to a head a bit there,
and it was just a shame it was on the last day.
Little flippant comments when I was tired and frustrated...uh...affect people
more than they were meant to and I think that's something
that I need to realise in normal life as well.
It took another 10km before we gave each other a hug and got on with it.
NARRATOR.. They ski on, putting one foot in front of the other,
willing themselves to reach the goal they set out for nearly 18 months ago.
BEN: Oh, we're so nearly there -
the culmination of a year and a half's hard work.
Finally, the American base at the South Pole comes into view.
BEN: About 5km from the South Pole, we caught a glimpse of the buildings.
I mean, it was just there, but you couldn't reach it.
It was never getting closer. Never, ever getting closer.
And we just...we had no energy left.
Even though we knew the goal was there and the end was in sight,
and that once we reached that,
we'd never get on skis again or pull a stupid dumb pulk behind us.
It was just agonising, and our eyes were going and our heads were drooping,
and our legs started seizing up and cramping.
And then finally, you could see the flags.
I felt myself awaken.
NARRATOR: They've been through an incredible physical and emotional journey.
They've looked Antarctica in the face and been battered by its storms.
It's frozen them and pushed them to the edge of exhaustion.
But they've persevered and now the Pole is within their grasp.
BEN: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, YES!
NARRATOR.. Finally, the polar novices,
Ben Fogle,James Cracknell
and Ed Coats, can let their feelings go
as they step up to conquer the South Pole.
BEN: We skied up to this ball in total silence.
There was a whole little crowd of people in front of us -
race organisers, the Norwegians, a few people from the base...
...and then we just collapsed in sobs of tears.
(APPLAUSE)
They've raced 762 kilometres,
it's taken 18 days, 5 hours and 30 minutes.
And despite all they've been through,
they've finished in an incredible second place.
ED: I'm proud of what we've done out here. For me, to come here
and have all those fears, apprehensions, expectations and be thrown into a race,
like we have done and come through and come second, is phenomenal.
NARRATOR: They've been exhausted physically and emotionally.
But at last, their dream has come true.
JAMES: I think for me,
the feeling was one of massive satisfaction,
which is a nice way to finish any race.
We'd done what we set out to do.
BEN: I ended up completing the most incredible journey of my life...
with two of the most amazing friends you could ask for.
NARRATOR..At the end of one of the toughest endurance races on the planet,
they can now rest and recover from their exhaustion
and cold-weather injuries.
BEN: We will remember this for the rest of our lives.
We will never forget this. OK?
- We will never, ever forget this. - ED: Second, man!
I'll buy that! James, you probably won't.
(THEY CHUCKLE)
JAMES: That's one of the things I've found here,
is...is all about working in a team,
whether it's a team of people that you're trying to achieve a goal with,
or a team of someone you're trying to raise a family with.
You know...it's only eight weeks here,
but hopefully it's another 50 years with Bev.
I don't think you can do anything like this
and not go away from it a changed person.
And make the most of life, cos life is short.
Everyone asks, ''What next? What next?''
A family.