Published: October 29, 2008
Credit crunch causes postponement of hovercraft polar expedition

Two polar explorers who have been training with Burnham-On-Sea's rescue hovercraft team in preparation for a record-breaking hovercraft expedition to the North Pole have this week postponed their trip due to the current financial climate.

Alex Henney, 31, and Simon Marshall, 44, still plan to be the first to travel to the North Pole by hovercraft, but have postponed their expedition by a year until the spring of 2010.

The pair have been trying to raise funds for their expedition and Burnham's rescue hovercraft charity, BARB, but due to the current economic environment, they have not been able to raise enough money to undertake the expedition as planned in the Spring of 2009.

Alex, pictured right, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "It is a huge disappointment that we have had to postpone the expedition, but we are still very much focused on achieving our aim in 2010."

Simon added: "We will continue to work hard to raise the funds and are confident that over the next year we will raise enough funds to both undertake the expedition and support BARB."

Both Simon and Alex have a great deal of experience in trekking in the Arctic. Mr Marshall has over ten years' experience, having been the base camp manager during the 1996 Ultimate Challenge expedition, which gave novices the opportunity to experience polar travel.

Mr Henney was a member of Team Polar Horizon, which took part in the 2007 Polar Race, a 350-mile race to the Magnetic North Pole. They began training with Burnham's hovercraft crews last January. They hope to become the world's first team to fly in a hovercraft to the North Pole. More details about the expedition are available here.