The 2018 Antarctic Ice Marathon, the world's southernmost marathon, took place as scheduled on December 13th. It was the fourteenth edition of this annual race and competitors from 18 countries took part, namely Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Sri Lanka and the USA.

The feature 42.2km marathon event, a member of the Association of International Marathons & Distance Races (AIMS), had 51 participants (41 men and 10 women) from 16 countries while 5 others completed a half marathon with 1 each running a 10k and 5k, respectively.

Although the temperature was mild for Antarctica, poor visibility and energy sapping underfoot conditions made it very difficult for competitors.

In the men's race, 2017 North Pole Marathon champion Piotr Suchenia (POL) dominated from the outset, winning in a time of 3:49.18. Isaac Thyer, far removed from his native Australian weather, finished strongly in second place in a time of 4:19.19 with Austria's Alexander Rudiger close behind in third position in 4:31.57.

Roma Puisine, an international mountain bike orienteering representative for Lithuania, took the women's title in her debut marathon in 5:03.32, ahead of Natalie Arnold (AUS) in 6:15.14 and and Gurmeet Bhalla (IND) in 6:55.46.

On completion of the race, seven of the race field also achieved membership of The 7 Continents Marathon Club for successfully running a marathon distance on all of the earth's continents. David Kuhne (AUS) joined the Marathon Grand Slam Club for completing marathons on all 7 continents and at the North Pole.

The 15th edition of the Antarctic Ice Marathon takes place from 12th - 14th December, 2019. See www.icemarathon.com and www.facebook.com/AntarcticIceMarathon for details.

Full results of the 2018 Antarctic Ice Marathon are posted below.