New York on 5th November, just 2 days after my birthday, and a 5am wake up call in order to get to the starting line in time for the 37th running of the marathon. One of 38,000 runners watched by a crowd of 2.5 million (almost certainly a figure which owes a lot to American hyperbole – but still a huge crowd) provided a huge contrast to my last marathon and my next adventure.

My last marathon was in the Antarctic Circle just a few hundred miles from the South Pole, with a field of 9 and no spectators run on ice and snow. And following on from that I am heading in the opposite direction for the Westminster Arctic Challenge. Freezing temperatures, ice and snow and the only observers likely to be polar bears!

The New York was an amazing experience. I was really unsure as to how it would go because the training had not gone to plan due to an Achilles tendon problem which was still troubling me when I lined up at the start. The race is held through the 5 boroughs of New York, running across the 5 bridges and cheered on by a huge crowd including approximately 100 bands. The last 6 or 7 miles were very tough and the lack of training showed but I managed to run the whole way and enjoyed running through the finishing line in a picturesque autumnal Central Park in a time of 4 hours and 35 minutes.

All the hard work paid off. For those who are taking part with me in the Arctic Challenge, I would just say if you haven’t so far experienced the satisfaction of setting yourself a big physical challenge, putting in the training and eventually crossing the finishing line, then you are in for a real thrill when we all reach our final destination in the Arctic Circle. All the hard work which we will have to put in over the next 3 months will be forgotten as we celebrate our success. So let’s all get those miles in, enjoy ourselves and raise a huge sum for our charities.

The great thing about being a journalist is that you tend to fling yourself into situations first and worry about them afterwards. If you thought about everything they entailed beforehand, you’d never do anything much fun. Alas, the planning required for the Arctic Challenge means that I’ve had several months in which to dwell on what’s actually involved: namely physical exhaustion and temperatures as low as -40C. Despite my training, I still have visions of being abandoned on an ice floe while ultra-keen MPs sprint off into the distance. So why on earth did I sign up in the first place? Firstly, the journalistic heedlessness mentioned above. Secondly, perhaps, a lingering childhood memory. I popped into the recently restored Weston Park Museum in Sheffield this weekend – barely recognisable after a £17m revamp – and discovered one familiar face: Snowy, the (slightly mangy looking) polar bear, who was saved by popular demand and is now the star of the new Arctic section. I thought Sheffield kids were only bothered with Arctic Monkeys these days, so it’s nice to see Snowy has as many visitors as ever.

Curious fact: the name ‘Arctic’ actually comes from the ancient Greek for bear (‘arktikos’), not thanks to Snowy and his ilk but in reference to the constellation the Great Bear.

The ‘challenge’ of organising a challenge like this doesn’t get any easier and the last couple of weeks have certainly been eventful for Westminster Challenge! At last, the dates of the Parliamentary recess have been confirmed – unfortunately, they were not the dates that had been suggested to us previously and we were forced to make last-minute alterations to our plans to ensure that our expedition fell within the published dates.

No one could have predicted the turn of events but the team rallied around and we were able to make the new arrangements quickly and without too much disruption. It is a testament to the dedication of the MPs and all involved that the plans were altered quickly and without any major implications for the trek or other activity we had planned.

Let’s hope that is the last spanner in the works – fingers crossed, but as we are all getting so good at crisis management, I am sure we’ll get to use our new found skills again soon…. Thanks everyone for sorting this out as promptly as you did!

Well, I’m the latest recruit drafted into represent one of the charities that will benefit from this adventure, and what an adventure it looks to be. No only will it be a once in a lifetime trip, but it’s also for charity which gives an added motivation.

I’ve already stepped up my training regime, as I hold the utmost respect for nature. After a snowboarding trip to Bulgaria last year, just walking up a small hill in the snow was exhausting enough so I’m using this opportunity to get as fit as possible.

I’ve heard a few things regarding the cold, hunger and exhaustion. It will be interesting to be in the Arctic surrounded by MP’s and huskies. From reading the other blogs, the huskies have been branded as a bit smelly, but after 9 hour days I’m not sure we will be able to tell! I just hope no one snores!

Greatest ambition in life:
Right now, to come back from the Arctic with all my fingers and toes.

Why did you join the Arctic Challenge team?
To raise money for The Children’s Society. They are a very important charity who fight for the most marginalised children. Their headquarters are based in my constituency and when they asked me to help- what could I say?!

What are you hoping to achieve on the Arctic Challenge?
Apart from raising money there are two things I’d like to achieve. First I’d like to get fit and prove to myself I can do it. And secondly we have a plan to link up with young people in my constituency in order to show them what the arctic is like. Unfortunately the way we are treating our planet, there are no guarantees that the Arctic will still be there when our children grow up.

What is your biggest fear about the Challenge?
That my new gym instructor will finish me off before I even set foot on the Arctic.

What are you looking forward to most on the Challenge?
I’m told it is quite extraordinarily beautiful. In Islington you are never more than a couple of feet away from someone else, so it will be weird being somewhere so empty. I must say though that I’m not looking forward to the minus 40C nights.

What advice do you want to give the rest of the MP Arctic Challenge team?
Remember I’m the oldest – treat me with respect.

More and more people are expressing an interest in getting involved in TWC. It’s great. More and more people want to help with the events, fundraising, media and even the fitness training (something which is not going so well just yet)! – so thank you everyone! We’ve now had a lot of media exposure and I hear that we are the talk of Westminster – along with a few other things of course! It’s now time for more MPs to sign up to TWC and pledge their support and their help to arrange future expeditions and also to get closer to UK charities. It’s coming together nicely… more news very soon! RS

The other day, meeting the dogs and wearing snow gear for the first time, albeit on a blazing summer day, made it feel as if it is all actually coming together! I think the dogs are going to be a challenge – they are extremely ‘friendly’, for which read ‘they jump up a lot’, and since I am not that tall and they are quite big, at times it is interesting! The fact that we haven’t left London and I’ve already been knocked over by a husky doesn’t bode well – I have a lot to learn! However, it will be such a great challenge and I’m really looking forward to it – even more so now that it feels real! JW

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Perhaps I had better break the ice and by doing so help to get this blog going, pour encourager les autres, although I am sure that once the MPs start there will be a great deal said. As CEO of one of the charities that will benefit from this adventure I find myself joining the team to show our commitment, to set an example, and possibly prove that I can still do this sort of thing. The others have different reasons, one being “to win”; I am not sure how this will be done unless at the end of the trek the dogs have a vote on who has been nicest to them.

Though I may be by far the oldest and least fit I have two things in my favour. The first is stoicism (in the face of the physical challenge – not the enthusiastic wisdom of the MPs of course) learned by a career of sleepless nights, missed meals, miserable weather and meeting people who wanted to kill you. The second is that I have done something like it before – 38 years ago. I went on a Norwegian Army winter warfare course. The difference was that instead of dogs we carried everything or towed it behind on a sled (a pulk). Occasionally, if you were at the front end when contouring round some hill, one of your mates might ski up alongside and give you a push. As you gathered speed down the hill, chased by an 80 kilo pulk you knew that you had to contrive a crash quickly (the only way we knew how to stop) lest you hit a tree, followed quickly by an angry pulk ramming you in the back. As you untangled yourself from the harness and dug your skis out of the snow you could hear your greatest friends falling about in laughter, coupled with the despairing barking of the instructors.

What will interest me most, I suspect, will be to see what has changed. I certainly have; although exactly the same weight as I was then – an almost full time modern pentathlete – it seems to have been redistributed and rests where it is a burden rather than a help. The cold, hunger and exhaustion will be pretty much the same. But how will the team compare? And the terrain; after David Cameron’s visit will we need wheels rather than runners? And will years of being a uniformed management accountant defending my budget rather than soldiering have turned me into a softy? In seven months’ time I’ll know.

It was great to meet the dogs today and get a feeling that this thing may actually happen! The dogs are wonderful – if a bit smelly (they probably said the same about us). It’s an exciting prospect, now we have to get fundraising and get fit! EV

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We knew it would be hard to bring everything together to launch a new organisation with the aims of TWC, but the team is a pretty determined bunch of people from across the political spectrum – not to mention those new to the political world!

It feels so good that the left, right and centre ground is actually coming together to work on a project like this. One of the committee members told me a few nights ago their reasons for getting involved and explained the frustration at being involved in politics in an age where it is very difficult to change things as an individual, but that TWC gave us all the chance to really make a difference without the shackles of a party line to follow. It proved to me once and for all that we were doing the right thing.

We’re all looking forward to the media launch of TWC now – and getting the fundraising operation off the ground over the summer. Hard work never killed anyone, right? RS