Toth, Turner triumph at the North Pole

Hungary’s Istvan Toth and Richelle Turner of Australia have won the North Pole marathon.

Toth and Turner took victory in the men and women’s categories of the race respectively after running for 26.2 miles in temperatures of -32 degrees Celsius.

Toth took 4 hours and 54 seconds to complete the race, while Turner finished the event in a little more than six hours across the frozen ice of the Arctic Sea.

Five women took part in the competition with winner Turner dominating the race from the outset.

By winning the North Pole marathon, Turner joined the Grand Slam Club after completing seven marathons on seven continents.

The athletes had to complete nine laps of the course but were able to retreat into a refreshment tent every lap to regain body warmth and hydrate themselves with hot drinks and snacks.

The race, featuring 27 competitors from 12 countries, started on Friday night after it had been delayed for a day when a one-metre wide crevasse opened in the landing runway, making it unsafe for the competitors’ aeroplanes to land.

The slowest competitors finished more than nine hours after starting.