Fiona Thornewill is the groundbreaking explorer who covered the 700-mile journey to the South Pole in just 41 days. The fact her satellite phone failed after 10 days, leaving her out of contact with the rest of the world, didn't make things any easier. But that has been just one of the trials she's had to overcome on a very long adventure.

'I went to the South Pole for the first time in 2000 with my partner Mike – he had a fascination with the South Pole ever since he was seven. He constantly talked about it, and nobody ever doubted that he would achieve his dream to see it. We decided we would share the experience.'

Fiona met Mike after her husband Bill was killed in a motorbike crash when he was just 25.

'Bill and I were childhood sweethearts; met at 14 and married at 20.'

'Mike's father had died when he was young so he understood what I was going through, and our friendship gradually turned into romance.'It was Mike who encouraged Fiona to think about making the South Pole trip solo on their return.

'Mike sat me down and said to me, 'no woman has ever walked to the South Pole – it could be you'.

The first journey had been difficult – travelling through a breeding ground for polar bears where the bears came close to their sleds on occasion, experiencing storms when the weather became too bad to get out of their tents – but she loved the experience, and was moved by the beauty of the Arctic.

So once back in the UK, the training and fundraising began in earnest. 'Fundraising for that sort of a trip takes a long time,' she explains. 'As does all the research. We were also building our own house at the time. I was working five days a week as a recruitment consultant, and training for the trip – we had a lot of hurdles to cross.'

Her training comprised of either running or cycling to work in the morning, and back in the evening. She also had to pull a truck tyre on two-mile journeys to simulate pulling a sled, moving at the rate of just a mile an hour.'It was mindless work but it helped prepare me mentally, part of it is just a mind game.'

'I would say that 60 to 70 per cent of the effort required on an Arctic expedition is mental.'

The next stage of the project was a trip to the North Pole – again taken with Mike, making Fiona the first British woman to travel to both the South and North Poles. And in December 2003 she set off towards her ultimate goal, reaching the South Pole on January 11 2004.

'When I arrived, I hadn't spoken to anyone for 32 days.'

'The sun was blazing, there were tears running down my face and I thought, Mike, I've made it. I thought about all the people I loved, about Bill, my family and friends – there was just this sheer sense of relief and pride and contentment.'

Now, while still working in recruitment and travelling all over the country for speaking engagements, she and Mike organise regular trips to the Arctic – helping others achieve the same dream. 'The feedback we get from people afterwards is amazing – it leads them on to all sorts of things.

'People realise what they can do, it spurs them on to make all sorts of changes to their lives.'

But managing all the different sides of her life – as well as keeping up her fitness levels – takes a lot of work and effort.

'It's all down to organisation,' she says. 'Both Mike and I have a lot of focus, a lot of determination, we plan our time carefully. It's just thinking about the way we use time and being creative with it – I run 30 miles a week by running to work and running home. I have a change of clothes at work, as well as toiletries and hair straighteners. The whole journey takes me only 15 minutes longer than if I commuted.'

In the end, it comes down to how determined you are, how much you want it she believes. But the rewards are huge. 'I have always been positive, I do have determination. Because Bill was cheated out of his life I feel I have to make the most of mine – in memory of him.'

'It's funny coming back to reality - you think you won't get caught up in the rat race, but you do!

'But you can learn that you are capable of achieving anything you like – things don't come easily, but then the rewards are even more fulfilling. A positive attitude is half the battle.'

Find out more about Fiona at www.polarchallenge.org

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