Jock Wishart
The hunt is on for the final crew member to join a 450-mile row to the North Pole.
British explorer Jock Wishart is leading the challenge - a world first - to highlight the effect of climate change on the ice around the Polar regions. It follows the adventurer's two previous expeditions to the North Pole and a row across the Atlantic.
The winner of the competition - launched on Wednesday - will be guaranteed a place on the Old Pulteney Pole Position Challenge in summer 2011. In a specially designed "ice boat", Jock and his five crew will set off from Resolute Bay in Canada and row across the Arctic to the magnetic North Pole.
The estimated four to six-week voyage has never been undertaken before and is only possible now due to the increase in seasonal ice melt of the Arctic landscape. Nevertheless, the team will face dramatic ice-bound coastlines and shifting sea-ice barriers.
Mr Wishart, from Dumfries, said: "It's the challenge of a lifetime for someone out there. But it's a very unusual person we're after. Ideally they would be used to rowing, have had experience in cold climates and be able to show a strong mental attitude and determination to succeed.
"There will be plenty of excitement, adventure and opportunities for the winner to test their mettle and physical stamina."
Shortlisted entrants will be invited to compete head-to-head in a Pole Position Challenge Day on November 20. The winner will then be personally trained by the sportsman, who captained the team that broke the London to Paris rowing record in 1999 and in 1992 was part of the first group to walk unsupported to the geomagnetic North Pole.
He said of the latest expedition: "It is only possible because of the melting ice in the polar regions. Whether this is cyclical, whether this is because we are pumping too much CO2 into the atmosphere, it is happening nonetheless.
"We want to demonstrate to people there's a problem up there."
The deadline for entries for the challenge sponsored by Old Pulteney whisky is November 1. Apply online at www.rowtothepole.com
