Cinematic footage of Antarctic Ice Marathon captured by drone [video]

Antarctica has to be one of the least human-friendly places on earth, one could visit in terms of weather conditions, yet last week it was the scene of some amazing feats, including the fastest Antarctic mile ever run, as well as the Antarctic Ice Marathon and 100k(!) race events. The event has been documented partly by drone in the amazing video you can see below. The scenery at the Union Glacier in Antarctica, just 650 miles from the South Pole, is amazingly beautiful and the drone footage is very cinematic.

Grab a coffee and enjoy watching this short movie.

Cinematic footage delivered by drone

The vast open spaces and blue and white colors of the snow, ice, and sky make for a superb setting for some drone video footage as you can see in the video below. However, it didn’t make life easier for all participant as the elite runner from Ireland, who set the fastest mile ever ran in Antarctica at 4:17.9, testifies:

“I was like, Holy f***, I don’t know how I’m going to get to the end,” he said. “My legs were going to jelly, and I had this drone following me. I was like, I can’t hit the deck; I have to finish because I’m not doing this again.”

The conditions in Antarctica are pretty brutal in general, let alone for people participating in long-distance racing events such as a marathon or 100k. It is hard to get a good nights sleep because of the almost continues daylight. Going for a short walk is a no-go because of all the crevasses and the temperature is a balmy -13° Fahrenheit, when you take into account the effect of windchill. Robinson had this to say about the conditions to Runners World:

“You just cannot get warm,” he said. “The wind was beating off my face and it was just wild. I went off to see how fast I could run and when you’re used to that, you’re used to going four-minute mile pace. The snow wasn’t deep, but it was energy-sapping, like running on sand. Your foot is going two or three inches into the snow on every step.” When he crossed the line, he said, “your lungs feel like they’re going to explode.”

The morning after the race, Robison got off the glacier by airplane right before a blizzard came in. It took him three days to make it back all the way to Ireland.

when Runners World asked him if he would ever consider returning to complete the marathon, he said:

“Nah, nah. No chance.”

Photos and video

Video footage by Shutterbird.