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Antarctic crossing a journey too far for Ice Maiden hopeful

GUERNSEY'S hopeful for a place on Exercise Ice Maiden will not be going on the final expedition to Antarctica, but she said the experience of the 18-month run-up was more than worth taking part.

Antarctic crossing a journey too far for Ice Maiden hopeful
Antarctic crossing a journey too far for Ice Maiden hopeful / Guernsey Press

Lance Corporal Rin Cobb, an Army medic and trainee paramedic, has been training for the exercise, in which six British women are aiming to become the first all-female team to ski coast-to-coast across Antarctica.

It has seen her embark on 21-day 460km expeditions across Norway, take part in seemingly impossible physical challenges and make friends for life with the rest of the team.

The decision was made following their final training expedition, however she has said she 'most certainly does not see it is a failure'.

'The selection has been an ongoing process throughout but our final training expedition back in Norway in the spring was the clincher for me,' she said.

'I can honestly say it's the toughest challenge I've ever had to endure and those that know me know I don't say this lightly.

'So it was during these hours inside my own head whilst digging deep just to get to the end of each day that I came to the realisation that this would be my final trip with the Ice Maidens.

'At the end of the day, we all knew that the seven of us left wouldn't all be able to head to Antarctica and no matter how much I would have loved to have been part of this extraordinary team of women as they make history, I couldn't in good faith continue with the chance I may let them down.'

Lance Corporal Rin Cobb sums up in her own words what Exercise Ice Maiden has meant to her

'SOME may see this as a failure but I most certainly do not. I may not have achieved exactly what I set out to when I first applied 18 months ago, but the journey to this point has been so much more than I could have imagined.

'I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to have got this far and all the support I've had to get me here.

'We can learn just as much about ourselves and what we are capable of from the journey as we can from achieving what we set out to do and a fear of failure should never stop you from taking that first unknown step.'