Breaking records with only shadows for company WIND-POWERED ENDURANCE ON ICE
Exhausted, dining on sticks of butter and dragging up to 150 kilograms each across ice and snow for 18 days, it’s fair to say that kiteboarding across Greenland isn’t everyone’s idea of a family holiday. But Queensland adventurers Geoff Wilson and son-in-law Simon Goodburn wouldn’t have done it any other way.
“Give me an hour of a life less ordinary over a lifetime of the ordinary,” laughs Geoff, now back at home, juggling his veterinarian business on the Gold Coast with plans for the next adventure.
“I’ll certainly pursue an adventurous life to the end,” smiles Simon beside him.
The unlikely duo has become Australia’s own version of a Jamaican bobsled team. Armed with the moral drive and strength associated with any good cause – raising funds and awareness for the McGrath Foundation – they swapped sand for snow and suitcases for pink sleds when they broke not one, or two, but three world records traversing what’s commonly known as the Third Pole, earlier this year.
“We achieved the records for the first Australian team to cross Greenland; the fastest crossing of the Greenland Plateau; and the furthest distance covered in a polar region in a calendar week,” says Simon, his pride evident.
Adds Geoff: “The Scandinavians are built for polar environments – they have anti-freeze in their blood. As a pair of Aussies to train on the sand, then shave days off existing records is crazy!”
Surprising even themselves by smashing the standing
