{"id":50170,"date":"2026-04-14T05:19:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=50170"},"modified":"2026-04-14T05:19:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:19:36","slug":"thirty-hour-arctic-ski-race-as-tough-as-it-sounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=50170","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-hour Arctic ski race &#8216;as tough as it sounds&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A cross-country skier who took on the world&#8217;s longest and oldest race through the Arctic Circle said it had been &#8220;a little bit scary&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Ireland, from Didcot, took on the 137-mile (220km) Nordenski\u00f6ldsloppet race across northern Sweden in March in a bid to raise funds for the search and rescue team he volunteers for, Lowland Rescue Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>He completed the event in just over 27 hours &#8211; all whilst battling sleep deprivation, exhaustion and isolation.<\/p>\n<p>The 36-year-old, who describes himself as &#8220;barely an amateur&#8221; skier, said the challenge had ended up being &#8220;as tough as it sounds&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"lightbox-btn\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"lightbox-expand\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Image Lightbox\" class=\"lightbox-overlay\" aria-modal=\"true\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>Ireland described himself as &#8220;barely an amateur&#8221; skier [Matt Ireland]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But he said his surroundings during the race had been &#8220;amazingly beautiful&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[There was] amazing, picturesque scenery &#8211; skiing through silent pine forests, across frozen lakes with the backdrop of the of the mountains towering above, really cool sunsets,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Although he said he found the seclusion of the challenge &#8220;a little bit&#8221; scary at points, he explained that it also led to an &#8220;incredible moment&#8221; at nighttime.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was one moment where I stopped, turned my torch off and just tried to listen to what was out there,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Absolute silence &#8211; there was nothing out there, no movement, and I looked up into the sky and saw the northern lights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s not many places or chances in life to go where you have no light pollution, no noise pollution and you&#8217;re just there in the moment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A group of volunteers, clad in orange and red clothing, huddle around an illuminated van - as if they are receiving a brief.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/XHuqBLO9FoFZ3JoF3YKIlA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/07a181dc9bc4f125d9733f9e31c7d251\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"lightbox-btn\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"lightbox-expand\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Image Lightbox\" class=\"lightbox-overlay\" aria-modal=\"true\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>When he&#8217;s not skiing more than a hundred miles, Ireland volunteers for Lowland Rescue Oxfordshire [Matt Ireland]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Matt explained that of his 27 hours on the snow, his total rest time was &#8220;two to three hours&#8221; in total, with &#8220;no sleep whatsoever&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think at any point during that whole period of time I closed my eyes longer than a blink. In the early hours of the morning, it was definitely trying to sleep when I didn&#8217;t want it to,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that there were a few moments where I had to motivate myself to get back out there &#8211; I really had to dig quite deep.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Following the conclusion of the race, he said: &#8220;I felt like I was hungover. [I was] dehydrated and nauseous from eating high energy foods.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said he had taken up the challenge &#8220;as a kind of reminder that occasionally when you&#8217;re making a big transition in life, feeling lost can be a necessary prompt to find that next step forward&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It may come from a direction that you don&#8217;t realise,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p><em>You can follow <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/england\/oxford?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:BBC Oxfordshire;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;BBC Oxfordshire&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>BBC Oxfordshire<\/em><\/a><em> on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bbcoxford\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Facebook&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>Facebook<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbcoxford\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;X&quot;}\" class=\"link \">X<\/a><em>, or <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcoxford\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Instagram&quot;}\" class=\"link \"><em>Instagram<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">More on this story<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"content-list\">\n<li\/><\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Related internet links<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"content-list\">\n<li\/>\n<li\/><\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/a1.api.bbc.co.uk\/hit.xiti\/?s=598314&amp;p=news.articles.c79j5jxw25no.page&amp;x1=%5Burn%3Abbc%3Aoptimo%3Aasset%3Ac79j5jxw25no%5D&amp;x4=%5Ben-gb%5D&amp;x5=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2Fc79j5jxw25no%5D&amp;x7=%5Barticle%5D&amp;x8=%5Bsynd_nojs_ISAPI%5D&amp;x9=%5BThirty-hour+Arctic+ski+race+%27as+tough+as+it+sounds%27%5D&amp;x11=%5B2026-04-14T05%3A05%3A32.385Z%5D&amp;x12=%5B2026-04-14T05%3A05%3A32.385Z%5D&amp;x19=%5Byahoo.north.america%5D\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/thirty-hour-arctic-ski-race-050537135.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A cross-country skier who took on the world&#8217;s longest and oldest race through the Arctic Circle said it had been &#8220;a little bit scary&#8221;. Matt Ireland,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}