Commonwealth women return from Antarctica

They were welcomed by family, friends and supporters at a party at the Royal Commonwealth Society on Monday night after skiing some 900km across the Antarctica in 38 days. Their elated group leader Felicity Aston said her team mates were her greatest source of pride and she thanked everyone who had believed in her “crazy” idea of taking a diverse group of “real” women across some of the harshest terrain in the world, where temperatures regularly plunged below 30 degrees Centigrade.

At a meeting in Marlborough House, Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma told the women they were an inspiration to everyone. “We will happily claim this as a birthday present for the Commonwealth in its 60th anniversary year, 2009. It is the greatest possible testament to what extraordinary things can be achieved when people set their heart on a goal. The courage, endeavour, unity and good humour shown by the team is as humbling as it is inspiring.”

Two of the women were the first person from their country to ski to the South Pole and three were the first women from their country to do so.

The Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition comprised women from Brunei, Cyprus, India, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

For more information about the expedition, please see: http://www.kasperskycommonwealthexpedition.com/

Related Websites:

• Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition