The 42-year-old former Pontypridd, Celtic Warriors, Perpignan, Dragons, Leeds Tykes and Wales flanker set-out from the Hercules Inlet last month to try to break the world record for the 1150km journey along the geographical coastline of Antarctica to the South Pole.
“I’m in good spirits and in pretty good shape. I’ve got some cold damage to my face, but I’ve been outside now for four weeks on my own so it’s to be expected,” he told his Twitter followers.
“Fingers, toes, are all good. I went from 7000 calories a day to around 2000 calories a day for the last few days, so it was genuine happiness to get here.”
In 2014 he completed the journey in 29 days, 19 hours and 24 minutes, but his attempt last year to lower the world best of 24 days, 1 hour and 13 minutes, set by Norwegian Christian Eide in 2011, was scuppered by poor conditions.
This time he completed the epic journey solo, unassisted and unsupported despite some of the worst weather conditions ever seen in the area in recent years. He reached the South Pole today after 28 days of skiing to shave a considerable portion off his previous British best.
Despite packing only enough food for 25 days, he battled snow blizzards and freezing-cold temperatures to reach his goal and complete a remarkable 3700km (2,300 miles) of solo skiing in the Antarctica region – more than any other person in history.
Richard Parks has set a NEW BRITISH RECORD!!! "I've just arrived at the South Pole. We did it! Thank you" #pushforthepole #britishrecord #antarctica #teamquest pic.twitter.com/Pzt6dZXp8R
— Richard Parks (@richardparks) January 15, 2020
