A 46-year-old explorer from Billingshurst is planning to make history by walking to both the North and South poles with an all-woman expedition.

Property developer Pom Oliver and her team want to toast the double and the millennium with champagne on ice after completing the 630-mile marathon that will take them through 9,000ft glaciers to the South Pole in about 70 days.

They flew out of Gatwick to stop off at Madrid and Chile before reaching the Antarctic.

As they left, the five said they could not wait to face the

challenge.

Mrs Oliver said: "I'm looking forward to the visual aspects, the achievement of conquering the challenge, the camaraderie and just having fun.

"My husband thinks I'm mad and is glad that he's not going. But life is too short so I wanted to join the expedition."

Earlier this month the members of the £350,000 expedition were given a royal send-off by their patron, the Prince of Wales, at St James' Palace.

They were all part of the

20-strong relay party which in May, 1997, marched into the history books by becoming the first all-women expedition to trek to the North Pole.

They will have to pull sledges of up to twice their body weight across the 3,000ft deep ice of the frozen continent, fuelled by high calorie, high fat food including chocolate, peanuts, shortbread and butter.

Three of the four women

who completed the historic

last leg of the trek to the North Pole, including Pom are taking part in this Antarctic expedition.

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