Rival team is set to reach Pole

The team are only miles from their goal

A team of Royal Navy and Marine adventurers look set to reach the South Pole after an RAF team pulled out because of medical fears.

The Polar Quest team, made up of a Royal Navy sailor and three Royal Marine personnel, are near the end of the first stage of a 1,450-mile trip.

Members of the RAF Southern Reach team had to be airlifted to safety due to "medical issues".

The Polar Quest team are expected to reach the Pole at around 2100 GMT.

They aim to become the first British military team to complete a return journey unsupported to the South Pole.

Remembrance service

Each man is pulling a sled weighing at least 20 stone, packed with survival equipment as they ski and walk in temperatures as cold as -27C.

Their journey follows in the footsteps of the ill-fated 1912 Polar expedition led by Royal Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

Once they have reached the South Pole, they will fly the flags of the United Kingdom, Royal Navy, Royal Marines and a replica of Captain Scott's flag. They will then hold a remembrance service for Captain Scott.

The 670-mile return journey will then be made with large kites to take advantage of prevailing winds and allow them to complete the distance in only 15 or 20 days. The entire journey is expected to take some 65 days.

The team is made up of Captain Sean Chapple, from Taunton, Somerset, Major Paul Mattin, from Woodbury Salterton, east Devon, Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Andy Brown, from Holsworthy, Devon and Marine Craig Hunter, from Kilmarnock in Scotland.

The Southern Reach team - Warrant Officer Alan Sylvester, of Grimsby, Corporal Phil Mainprize, of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Corporal Iain Kirk, based at RAF Kinloss, in Moray, and Flight Lieutenant Kevin Scully of Retford, Nottinghamshire - are now in Chile.

The said in a statement: "Despite not making it all the way to the pole, we had covered 600 miles in 43 days which is a monumental achievement."