Co-founders of Y.CO Charlie Birkett and Gary Wright successfully completed the Headnorth Charity expedition to the North Pole on 13th April 2015. The team also included the company’s Director Yacht Management Yves Damette, Royal Marines Wayne Hoyle and James Nightingale in addition to the three England Rugby World Cup winners Lewis Moody MBE, Josh Lewsey MBE and Danny Grewcock MBE.
The Headnorth charity expedition brought together the team of eight for a challenging 100km hike over 6.5 days to the Geographic North Pole, the Earth’s highest point at Latitude 90° North.
The team had several months of gruelling preparation in a private training base in Devon and, fully prepared, finally landed in Ice Camp Barneo, situated 1° away from the North Pole, on 4th April, before they embarked on the charity trek.
Led by seasoned polar explorer Alan Chambers MBE FRGS, the expedition took the team northwards through some of the planet’s toughest landscapes, where temperatures remained between -25 and -50ºC despite the presence of spring elsewhere in the northern hemisphere. The journey is considered by many as one of the most extreme tests of mental and physical endurance and is made more challenging by the weight of the 60kg sledges that must be manually transported across a constantly moving ice flow. The team finally arrived at the summit of the world at 13:00 on Saturday 13 April. Despite the sometimes difficult trek, the team arrived in good spirits and in good health.
The Headnorth charity expedition was taken in aid of two selected foundations: the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund (RMCTF) which assists serving and retired Royal Marines and their families, and the Lewis Moody Foundation for families affected by grave illnesses and for scientific research into brain tumours.
Prior to undertaking the charity trek, the team set a fundraising goal of £250,000, with total proceeds being divided equally between the two charities. You too can help raise funds for this extraordinary expedition by visiting the Headnorth charity expedition justgiving page or text YCOH15 £amount to 70070.
