Helen’s Polar Challenge (Ski, Kite & Bike)

From 08.12.2011 to - Status: success

BBC TV presenter (Blue Peter show) Helen Skelton wants to have fun in the Antarctic

BBC TV "Blue Peter" young presenter Helen Skelton (28) has decided to become the first person ever to reach the South Pole using skis, kites and a bike to get there.

After the monstruous cars trying to find their customers and fame in the Antartic, here come the bikes. A bike with 8″ tyres had been specially designed for the TV presenter. That bike will be needed to provide enough traction to pull the supplies.

Helen Skelton is of course planing a world record. As there are not so many left (as far as the Antarctic is concerned at least), she has thought of a bike. Then thinking even more deeply, she (or maybe is it her producer ?) has noticed that the kites became quite popular in this region of the world. Let's go for the kites as well !

But as she is not yet quite convinced that a bike will be able to progress on the ice, she has decided to take skis along as well. So the program has been set as follows : the young Blue Peter presenter will bike, ski and kite until the SP. Pulling a sled behind. Hasn't she forgotten 'will walk' also ?

The world record ? To be first person ever to reach the South Pole using skis, kites and a bike to get there. Helen Skelton is undertaking this for BBC Sports Relief.

This ski, kite and ice bike ride is due to start on 1 January at 800 km from the Pole. Tour Operator Extreme World Races (see our page) is the team behind the mission ; it will be providing safety guidance, production and logistics support.

This 28 years old girl admits the magnitude of the challenge. “My friends keep pointing out that nobody has ever used a bike to reach the South Pole, possibly because it can’t be done!” she says. “Maybe it can’t, but the more people that tell me it’s impossible, the more I think, if I can do this, I can look any kid in the eye and say ‘impossible and difficult are different things.” Excellent for the show !

Note : Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time. The show uses a studio for the main format of the presenting; there is also a garden, often referred to as 'The Blue Peter Garden', that is used during the summer months or used when they are showing any outside activities. The current presenters are Helen Skelton and Barney Harwood.

On 29 March 2011, Blue Peter became the first programme in the UK to broadcast an entire show in 360 degrees on the web. Viewers were able to watch the programme via their TVs and simultaneously interact with the television studio in front and behind the cameras on the website. Viewers were also challenged to play a game where they had to find particular crew members and staff dressed up in distinctive costumes.

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