How many people would link curry and the South Pole? Not many, that's for sure. That is unless you're Fiona Thornewill. When she and her husband Mike returned from their first journey to frozen landscapes, in Spitzbergen, they went to their local curry house. Fiona was fired up by her trip. "I was amazed by the amount of beauty, the colours." Mike said to her that no British woman had ever been to the South Pole. And for her 'that was that', she knew she had to go. But before her solo trip, in 2000 Fiona and Mike became the first married couple to reach the South Pole, along with companion Caroline Hartley.

Then in 2001 they set up an expedition to reach the North Pole, raising money for charity. They travelled with Canadian mountaineer and artic adventurer Paul Laundry and reached their destination in 56 days. By 2004 Fiona was ready to step out on the South Pole's ice alone. All of which is a far cry from her day job as a recruitment consultant. So what is it that pushes her to extremes?

When Fiona speaks you can tell she brings an enthusiasm to whatever she's doing. And if something doesn't work she resolves it. She ran her own gym for a while. "I was working 12 hours a day. As much as I love exercise it didn't fulfil me. I had a friend who worked for a recruitment agency, and I joined the company. It was a simple as that. I'm very much a people person," she explains. "Friends say I'm a party animal, very sociable." All the more surprising then that she chose to trek 700 miles through one of the world's most inhospitable environments on her own.

Fiona's previous trips with Mike to both the poles had prepared her for the landscape. "The North Pole was very hard, walking over frozen ocean that could break up any time. You had to be careful where you camped. There were polar bears. We had to cross open water which can be very wide. We chipped off a big block of ice and, with a spade as a paddle, use it as a ferry boat. I enjoyed that tremendously. The North Pole was fantastic. But the big one was my solo journey." On her expeditions with Mike he provided support, companionship, and also, crucially, navigation. Out on the ice, heading to the South Pole, she was entirely reliant on her own resources, and she amazed herself. "What surprised me was how happy I was by myself for the period. I had a journal. I wrote every day, so I put everything into that. And I'm pleased to say it was very positive." She says, "When you set yourself a challenge like that you have to be very focussed. It's a mental game as well as physical; a fifty, fifty split." It was also an opportunity for Fiona to think about her first husband Bill.

"We chipped off a big block of ice and, with a spade as a paddle, used it as a ferry boat. I enjoyed that tremendously."

"It was instantaneous. One summer morning he was here and the next moment the police are on your doorstep. You can't prepare for that. He was only 26, a cruel age to lose your life."

Bill had died in a motorcycle crash. "I always had this in my mind, after Bill's accident, that I was here and he wasn't. That I shouldn't waste this opportunity," says Fiona speaking about life. "I would go to bed with the feeling that I'd made the most of the day. My first solo trip was a tribute to him. It was a moving time for me. Being isolated for that amount of time, I gave a lot of thought to him. I dedicated that to Bill and it was something to do with why I was so determined. I try to pull the positive out of the negative."

With an attitude like that it's not surprising that Fiona walked into the history books ahead of schedule. She was aiming to arrive at her destination in 60 days. To reach her goal she'd 'play mind games'. "If I got to my golden figure of 17 miles a day I would reward myself with one of the cakes my mother had baked for me. Religiously, every day before leaving, I would read a list of affirmations, things like 'I am a winner', 'I have everything I need to achieve my goal'." The end result was that 42 days later she became the fastest person ever to reach the South Pole. Factor in no phone communication ten days into the trip, pulling a loaded supply sledge weighing 130 kilos, and battling against wind-chill temperatures sometimes as low as minus 50c, and you start to realise just what an achievement that was.

"Religiously, every day before leaving, I would read a list of affirmations, things like 'I am a winner', 'I have everything I need to achieve my goal'."

With that behind her Fiona comments, "At the moment I feel incredibly satisfied with what I've done. I personally don't feel the need to push myself." Now she has a nine month old boy and says, "Being a mother I'm channelling a lot of energy into my son."

But don't be fooled by the seeming normality of her life. Fiona and her husband lead trips to both the poles, Denmark and Norway through their company Polar Challenge. As Fiona says, "There's a large amount of people who want to test themselves for different reasons. Mike and I can show them a way they can. Everybody is fitness tested. I think it's shown a lot of people what they can do." Like Fiona, many are women who have 'normal' day jobs, or are mothers with children wanting to prove to themselves they can achieve something so detached from their everyday lives. And when you consider that Fiona, Mike and those they take, often raise money for charity as they discover hidden strengths you realise it's a win, win situation for all involved.

By Michele Nevard

To contact Fiona - email fiona@polarchallenge.org or call 07979 538772