We have postponed our imminent departure for Antarctica.

At the start of this year, when we decided to go, the three of us and the rest of the world were in a more stable financial position. The continued decline in the economic outlook has come at an untimely point for us particularly as we all work for ourselves.

Preparing for such an expedition has a whole raft of physical, mental, organisational and financial hurdles. Having got this far, it is difficult to put it off but we are sure we will see it as a good decision when we step out onto the Antarctic ice in the near future.

Postponing it has lots of positives and new exciting opportunities such as:

• Providing an opportunity for new companies to have their flags flying at the South Pole.
• We will be fitter, faster and fatter (It was proving impossible to put on the extra 1 and a half stone.)
• A longer more focused marketing program which is great news for our sponsors and for Bowel Cancer UK and The Prostate Cancer Charity.
• Amanda from www.exclusivepressandpublicity.com has more time to help organise us.

We also have a short film of our Polar Bear encounters in Spitsbergen last year for you to have a look: www.beardodgers.com/antarctica.videos

Thanks for your continued support.

The Bear dodgers

Yesterday was fun i almost felt famous, with 10 people stopping me telling me thay has seen us in the papers last week.

In the meanwhile lots of people in dis belief as i struggled on with 4 tyres this time, It was all going well although rather slowly until with 300 meters to the finish line My Physio Jake appears to give me some advice on my posture and muscular stability etc.. I am not sure if he had been following me for the last 3 hrs..

Thank you all those generous people who i met yesterday on my session.

I have put a few new photos on the flicker account.. go have a look http://www.flickr.com/photos/charliethehunter/2895059252/in/set-72157605001079027/

Better get back to some work, but will be back in the park later this afternoon

8@)

Charlie

Oh My Golly

Frantic work is really really hectic, am completely exhausted still trying to remember to madly fund raise.. why does it always get left to the last minute. Exhausted maybe but being kept together by the Team at Sprint Physio Therapy.. Thanks guys

Oh Well with lots of ups and downs its been bumpy so far but cant wait to get away and get going.

In the mean while delighted that Envy motors http://www.envymotors.co.uk/ have just signed up to sponsor a flag at the pole as well as Graphic Alliance http://www.graphicalliance.co.uk/

In the mean while the person who stole my bike last night.. you got a great bike there.. enjoy it but i do hope you fall off.

;0)

Charlie

We’re excited Bear Dodgers today as we made it into London’s finest newspaper, The Evening Standard. The ‘photo shoot’ was two weeks ago and we thought they weren’t going to use but we got a surprise phone call this morning. Great stuff!

We also made it into the Metro Lite on page 2. The Metro is a free version handed out to commuters and there has been a steady stream of jokes this evening asking when we are going to become page 3 boys!

If you happen to see us training down at Hyde Park, please do come and say hello.

Joanna Lumley in the Land of the Northern Lights

An amazing journey in Norway’s Far North as Joanna Lumley pursues a life-long dream to track down the elusive, stunningly beautiful Northern Lights.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dhv1n/

Cynan has just moved out of home!  Although there are still 2 months before we’re off, he’s found someone to take over the room he was renting so he gets to save a bundle in rent. Plus he gets his bond back so there is even more money to spend on lots of great kit! A guaranteed way to arrive back in London after the trip, homeless and with no money left.

And thanks to Louise, Chris, Steph & Brigid who are all putting him up and dealing with the masses of expedition kit he already seems to own.

We’d like to welcome Amanda Stocks from Exclusive Press and Publicity on board and she will be helping us with all our press and publicity. That’s right, soon you’ll have the pleasure of seeing us on a big screen or newspaper near you soon! That should wake you up in the morning!

This is a big step up for the Dodgers - while we have received some press and publicity on previous expeditions, and even some professional advice, we’ve not had this level of support. It is one less thing we have to think about and we can just get on with doing what we’re actually good it and leave Amanda to do what she is great at.

We’ve got a couple of exciting ’stunts’ coming up in the next couple of weeks so Amanda will be working her magic and you might be seeing us soon.

Actually this is a combined leaving, Christmas and New Years party all rolled into one so it is very important that you set aside the evening of Thursday, October the 2nd to come and spend some time with your favourite Bear Dodgers.

We are likely to be pretty close to the South Pole around Christmas/New Years and it won’t be the same without you all. So add the date to your diary now.

The party will be in central London and we will email out full details in the coming weeks. And this is a charity event so will you need to part with your hard earned cash too!

As part of our preparation, we all decided to enter this year’s London triathlon (Olympic distance) which was on the 10th August. Charlie had done the Olympic distance race in the past 2 years but it was all a new experience for Cynan & David. The Olympic distance comprises a pleasuable 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and a 10km run which made for a change in our training - we haven’t been out dragging tyres round for a little while but instead, swam up and down the Serpentine Lido occassionally and did a lot more cycling that normal.

David was the first off with a 6.30am start, the first race of the day (surely getting out of bed that early is the hardest bit?). The rain held off but it was quite windy (about 15mph) - this isn’t so much fun as it makes the water choppy and half the ride/run is bound to be into a headwind. The one advantage of an early race though is that you get to do Westminster route - this is the same route that the pro athletes do and it follows the Embankment by the Thames, all the way up to Parliament. Much better than the boring laps everyone else gets to do. David’s swim was about 40 minutes which was pretty good as he’s still learning front crawl, his bike was not bad at 1.16 and then he had a horrendous time on the run. He had a bad cramp and had to stop for a while but after massaging his leg for 10 mins or so, he pushed through.

Charlie began the race weekend well by heading to a Stag weekend in Devon. He looked..ah..second hand on Sunday as he arrived with 30 mins to spare and was the very last person to register (out of 10,000 odd people) as they were packing up. Well done mate. But at least he made it. Charlie and Cynan were in the same heat, the very last of the whole event which was at 3.40pm. Neither are morning people so this worked well! The wind turned into heavy rain for most of the run just to add a bit of spice but other than that, it was actually quite an enjoyable race. Even the water in the docks (you don’t actually swim in the Thames) was relatively warm and surprisingly clean (a lot got swallowed!).

Having done a few other triathlons, we’ve found it so much easier to do one when you are reasonably fit. They have always been quite painful before whereas this was genuinely good fun!

Thanks to Be Well too…we used B.Fuel before and during the race and B.Gain afterwards - it makes a huge difference.