A group of runners have taken part in the “world’s coolest marathon” in the North Pole, battling near-freezing conditions as they raced across drifting sea ice.

Twenty-two runners from seven countries reached the Pole on Thursday (16 July), after arriving from Norway aboard the French polar vessel Le Commandant Charcot.

Wearing life vests as well as thermal layers, the runners ran 40 laps of a 1,055-metre loop, all whilst armed guards patrolling for potential polar bears stood by.

The female winner was Denmark’s Rikke Dam with a time of 6:54:02, and the male winner was China’s Shengxian Wang with a time of 3:52:22.