British rugby players hope for world record — at the North Pole

This map shows the route the athletes will take from Resolute to the site of the 1996 magnetic North Pole. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ARCTIC RUGBY CHALLENGE)

Tim Stimpson (left) and Ollie Phillips pose with a polar bear to promote the Arctic Rugby Challenge 2015. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ARCTIC RUGBY CHALLENGE)

Special to Nunatsiaq News

If nobody gets bit by frost — or a polar bear— Nunavut will be the backdrop for a new Guinness World Record for rugby in just under a month’s time.

Two teams of British rugby football players are attempting a 160-kilometre trek from Resolute Bay to the 1996 location of magnetic North Pole to play a regulation Rugby sevens match starting April 15.

(The magnetic North Pole moves slightly every year. 1996 was the year a group of novice trekkers went to the North Pole and successfully tracked and certified its location.)

If completed, the game would be the most northern rugby match ever played.

Rugby sevens is seven-a-side rugby, and while its players are known for being tough athletes, most of them have never experienced extreme cold weather before.

“I’ve got a few extra fat layers to keep me warm,” jokes Ollie Phillips, ex-England Sevens captain, and captain of one of the Arctic Rugby Challenge 2015 teams.

Phillips, an ex-player who has accumulated thousands of views on YouTube in highlight videos throughout his career, has gained an extra eight kilograms [about 18 pounds] of weight just for the trip.

“Apparently we’ll burn up to 9,000 calories a day. And we’ll never be able to eat that much, so it’s hopefully going to prove pretty useful,” Phillips said from his home in London, England.

But they’re not just after Guinness World Book fame. The group is hoping to raise more than $500,000 for Wooden Spoon, a charity that helps disabled and disadvantaged youth in the United Kingdom.

The group of Arctic trekkers —10 challengers will make the hike, and the others will fly there — will camp out and pull sleds weighing up to 60 kilograms on the tundra for an estimated seven days, according to the Wooden Spoon events and challenges manager, Marlina Barnes.

Jock Wishart, an expert Arctic explorer who has walked unsupported to the magnetic North Pole before, will guide the challengers. He’s coming out of retirement just for this stunt.

“Jock has gone there, it will be his seventh time up there. In training, he has spoken to the challengers about the culture and certain things they can and cannot do in terms of where they are going to,” Barnes said.

A tour group equipped with snowmobiles is accompanying the group of intrepid foreigners to the pole, but the men have also been training as best they can for the past few months in Ogmore, Wales: they’ve camped outside, dragged sleds on the sand and completed polar bear and GPS training.

Phillips says fear of the cold might be the most daunting aspect of the trip.

“Everyone’s sort of nervous because no one really knows what to expect. Ogmore’s cold but let’s put it in perspective — it was [plus] 3 C to 5 C. It was chilly and you wanted to put an extra jacket on. But it’s nowhere near -30 C.”

There are only three ex-pro rugby stars venturing to the North Pole: Phillips, Tim Stimpson and Lee Mears. Mears is also a certified referee, which is needed to set the official world record.

The other players are civilians who underwent rigorous interviews and had to pass physical tests, Barnes said.

Each player must raise just under $100,000 to participate in the challenge.

The size of the field and the rugby posts need to be to International Rugby Board specifications in order to set the record as well so the group is pulling collapsible goal posts on their sled.

But how are they going to make the playing field?

“These are our secrets. We can’t tell until we actually set the record,” Barnes said.

One of the biggest challenges is just getting along with other people, Phillips said. Coming from a sporting background, he said it’s crucial for teammates to get along when tensions are high.

“Although we were allowed to run out on a rugby pitch and then try to rip peoples heads off. That was a little bit different,” Phillips joked.

Phillips is looking forward to experiencing a new culture and place most British people never visit. He knew there were people living in the high Arctic, but “I didn’t know how far north people dared to live or wanted to live.

“We’re going to one of those areas where we’re going to set our own cracking story, but meet lots of people that will hopefully make it even more worthwhile,” he said.

“Hopefully [we’ll] meet a lot of nice decent folk who don’t mind the British accent and that. And support us as we head out.”

The two teams will stay in Resolute Bay for eight days before making the trek to the North Pole.

You can donate to Phillips’ effort here, and Wooden Spoon’s charity here.