McVities Penguin Polar Relay

As a mother of small triplets, with a banking background and no outdoor experience Ann was an unlikely candidate for her first polar expedition. However, determined to succeed, she trained intensively and was eventually selected from hundreds of applicants to take part in The McVities Polar Penguin Relay, in which 5 teams of 4 women, together with two guides skied in a relay format across the frozen Arctic Ocean to reach the North Pole in May 1997. The group pulled heavy sledges over enormous pressure ridges, open water and drifting ice.

Ann was on the first leg of the journey, where the temperatures are the coldest and the pressure ridges the highest. On day 13 while ski-ing on thin ice, she plunged into the Arctic Ocean, up to her neck. Team Alpha went on to double the target mileage set for this leg of the journey, giving the expedition a fantastic start.

Although Ann did not travel to the pole on this occasion it was the beginning of her love affair with the Polar Regions. Dealing with the hazards of the Arctic was the ultimate test in teamwork for this relay and which resulted against all odds in a triumphant conclusion, when on 26 May 1997, team Echo victoriously reached 90º North, the geographic North Pole.