Received this comment in one of the blogpost. Wish to highlight to my readers and visitors of this blog.
We'll Sophia, we will await your return...to hear from you, your 1st-hand accounts on this great adventure.
Unk Dicko
Sophia Pang said...
Thank you so muuch for everyone's support. I am very happy to be able to complete the expedition successfully and proud to carry the Singapore flag to the South Pole. There are definitely lots of ups and downs, not just on the terrain of Antarctica, but also physically and mentally as we skied 38 days on the vastness of the white desert continent. I am looking forward to be back home in Singapore and to share my experiences. From Sophia in Punta Arenas, Chile, awaiting for her flight to London in about 12 hours' time.
January 10, 2010 12:24 AM
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Showing posts with label Sophia Pang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sophia Pang. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
1st Singaporean woman to reach South Pole
(Photo: Unk Dicko's photo archives ) Sophia Pang becomes first S'porean woman to reach South PoleBy Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 30 December 2009 1929 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singaporean Sophia Pang, a mother of three, has become the first woman here to reach the South Pole. She joined six other participants from Commonwealth countries - Cyprus, Ghana, India, Brunei, New Zealand, and United Kingdom - to complete the gruelling journey. The group had set off from the Antarctic coast on November 19. They met their target to reach the South Pole on New Year's Day. The triumphant team faced biting temperatures of up to minus 40 degrees Celsius, as they skied 900 kilometres to the South Pole. The expedition marks the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth. - CNA/sc
They made History !!!
Unk Dicko and all my regular blog visitors would like to say.....
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !
to all the team members of the all-women Antarctic Expedition for their great Achievement.
And especially to Team leader Felicity for having inspired this dream come true and not forgetting Singapore's very own....SOPHIA PANG for not only her courage but for her unforgettable and remarkable achievement in getting a major sponsor for the expedition.
We await more news of their great story.
Below is the latest news from their website.
Felicity's podcast in writing :
"Hello this is Felicity reporting that at 23:09 on the 29th of December the Kaspersky Labs Commonwealth Antarctica Expedition arrived at the Geographic South Pole. We're all standing around the mirrorball that sits at the South Pole and surrounded by the flags of all the Antarctic Treaty Nations with the South Pole base in the background and standing next to me is Era Al-Sufri the first Bruneian ever to ski to the South Pole. Next to her is Stephanie Solomonides, the first Cypriot ever to ski to the South Pole. Next to her is Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu, the first Indian woman to ski all the way to the South Pole. Next to her is Sophia Pang the first woman from Singapore to ski to the South Pole. Next to her is Kylie Wakelin, the first woman from New Zealand to ski to the South Pole. Next to her is Helen Turton who has fulfilled a long-held ambition to ski to the South Pole and I've also fulfilled an ambition to take a team of inspirational women all the way to the South Pole.
I'm incredibly proud of the team and I think the feeling that we're all feeling right now is that if we can do this then you can do anything that you like to and that's the message that we really want to send to everyone. There's so many people that we need to thank for being able to stand here right now. First of all our friends, family and partners who've put up with so much disruption in their lives to let us do this and then there's all the volunteers who have given so generously of their time and their energy to help us organise this. And finally of course to our wonderful sponsors Kaspersky Labs who has made this dream possible for us. Thank you to all of you.
We can't wait to get home and share all our stories with you all and we're going to be doing that over the next couple of weeks but first of all we're all off to get a good sleep and to have something really good to eat. Love to everyone at home. We're all incredibly happy and we're standing here, 7 women at the bottom of the planet with a biggest smiles on our faces right now. Thanks to everybody out there for supporting us and getting us here. Thank you. Bye."
30.12.09
Huge congratulations to The Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition team which arrived at the Geographic South Pole at approximately 23.09 Antarctic time on 29 December 2009!
More updates later!
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !
to all the team members of the all-women Antarctic Expedition for their great Achievement.
And especially to Team leader Felicity for having inspired this dream come true and not forgetting Singapore's very own....SOPHIA PANG for not only her courage but for her unforgettable and remarkable achievement in getting a major sponsor for the expedition.
We await more news of their great story.
Below is the latest news from their website.
Felicity's podcast in writing :
"Hello this is Felicity reporting that at 23:09 on the 29th of December the Kaspersky Labs Commonwealth Antarctica Expedition arrived at the Geographic South Pole. We're all standing around the mirrorball that sits at the South Pole and surrounded by the flags of all the Antarctic Treaty Nations with the South Pole base in the background and standing next to me is Era Al-Sufri the first Bruneian ever to ski to the South Pole. Next to her is Stephanie Solomonides, the first Cypriot ever to ski to the South Pole. Next to her is Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu, the first Indian woman to ski all the way to the South Pole. Next to her is Sophia Pang the first woman from Singapore to ski to the South Pole. Next to her is Kylie Wakelin, the first woman from New Zealand to ski to the South Pole. Next to her is Helen Turton who has fulfilled a long-held ambition to ski to the South Pole and I've also fulfilled an ambition to take a team of inspirational women all the way to the South Pole.
I'm incredibly proud of the team and I think the feeling that we're all feeling right now is that if we can do this then you can do anything that you like to and that's the message that we really want to send to everyone. There's so many people that we need to thank for being able to stand here right now. First of all our friends, family and partners who've put up with so much disruption in their lives to let us do this and then there's all the volunteers who have given so generously of their time and their energy to help us organise this. And finally of course to our wonderful sponsors Kaspersky Labs who has made this dream possible for us. Thank you to all of you.
We can't wait to get home and share all our stories with you all and we're going to be doing that over the next couple of weeks but first of all we're all off to get a good sleep and to have something really good to eat. Love to everyone at home. We're all incredibly happy and we're standing here, 7 women at the bottom of the planet with a biggest smiles on our faces right now. Thanks to everybody out there for supporting us and getting us here. Thank you. Bye."
30.12.09
Huge congratulations to The Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition team which arrived at the Geographic South Pole at approximately 23.09 Antarctic time on 29 December 2009!
More updates later!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sophia Pang...a few hours from History!
An extremely bold, daring and adventurous Singaporean lady is set to become the very first female Singaporean to conquer the South Pole in a matter of hours as I post this updated story.
Sophia Pang and her all women team, known collectively as the Kaspersky Commonwealth Expedition to the South Pole, is only 6 nautical miles ( as the crow flies ) from their historic destination...the POLE!
The team has made very good progress over the frozen region and yesterday Sophia celebrated her birthday nearing destination's end. It should be one birthday she will never, ever forget. On behalf of my friends from the Serangoon Send-off party, may I wish you Sophia, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Will be keeping tabs on that historic moment from now on....
You can check my earlier post with photos by clicking....Here.
Here is the latest news update from the official Expedition website.
Latest Expedition News
Check the team's progress
29.12.09 Happy Birthday Sophia
The goal is in sight. Literally. They can see the South Pole and I can think of worse ways that
Sophia could have spent her birthday.A quick practical bit before we let Steph (Cyprus) give us the interesting stuff. Firstly, they are roughly 6 nautical miles from the South Pole. The map on the Progress page is approximate, so might look a bit off on the last day or two. Second, they are taking the day off to prepare for this evening's live lecture at the National Geographic Store
via satellite phone. So, despite being a stone throw's away from the finish line, there will be a slight
delay in the arrival.
The tension mounts!
Anyway, over to Steph for today's update.
Sophia Pang and her all women team, known collectively as the Kaspersky Commonwealth Expedition to the South Pole, is only 6 nautical miles ( as the crow flies ) from their historic destination...the POLE!
The team has made very good progress over the frozen region and yesterday Sophia celebrated her birthday nearing destination's end. It should be one birthday she will never, ever forget. On behalf of my friends from the Serangoon Send-off party, may I wish you Sophia, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Will be keeping tabs on that historic moment from now on....
You can check my earlier post with photos by clicking....Here.
Here is the latest news update from the official Expedition website.
Latest Expedition News
Check the team's progress
29.12.09 Happy Birthday Sophia
The goal is in sight. Literally. They can see the South Pole and I can think of worse ways that
Sophia could have spent her birthday.A quick practical bit before we let Steph (Cyprus) give us the interesting stuff. Firstly, they are roughly 6 nautical miles from the South Pole. The map on the Progress page is approximate, so might look a bit off on the last day or two. Second, they are taking the day off to prepare for this evening's live lecture at the National Geographic Store
via satellite phone. So, despite being a stone throw's away from the finish line, there will be a slight
delay in the arrival.
The tension mounts!
Anyway, over to Steph for today's update.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
2009, A Fantastic Year for S'pore Women...Cabinet,EVEREST, Antarctica !
What a fantastic year 2009 has been for Singapore and especially for the ladies of Singapore in the world of adventurism!
In May, 5 out of 6 members of Singapore's Women Mount Everest Expedition made spectacular and awesome history when they stepped on the summit of the highest point in the world....Mt Everest. I remember proudly calling D2 to break the news to her as soon as I found out. As a member of Singapore's 1st Gunung Tahan Expedition team 1969, unk Dicko and certainly other fellow members, share a great sense of pride, joy and satisfaction with the success of this women team. Our heartiest Congratulations!
And in March this year, in a brave and bold move, the Singapore Cabinet appointed our first full woman Minister in the person of Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, MP for Serangoon Gardens. Previous to this, she was a Senior Minister of State, holding two portfolios. It has taken nearly 50 years to see this 'psychological barrier' broken. As a result of this, more and more women will be able to step forward confidently and take up new challenges that once were thought unthinkable. I had blogged about this historic breakthrough appointment. You can read it HERE.
And one person, one super lady who has stepped forward confidently to 'take up a completely new and unimaginable CHALLENGE' is the subject of this blogpost...SOPHIA PANG, S'pore's team representative to this all women polar expedition. Having met and spoken with her, Unk Dicko is confident that come 1st January 2010, SOPHIA will go into the history book as the first Singapore woman to have conquered the South Pole.
Let us all as fellow Singaporeans wish her and her team "a Safe and Successful expedition". Between now and her return, you can read up interesting details about the expedition on their official website which is "live" with tweeter etc.
Those of you who might be wondering about how they would cope in those harsh and extreme conditions with regards to their food, water, health, sleep, hygiene, toilet, communication, direction finding, travel, pulling sleds ( 80 kg! ) etc..., just click on the link to their website below. There are lots of photos too.
http://www.kasperskycommonwealthexpedition.com/I hope readers will send their good wishes or messages in the comment box.
Sophia is aware that I will be blogging about her journey and we will keep in touch.
Monday, November 2, 2009
The Kaspersky Commonwealth Women's Antarctic Expedition
This year, the 52 member states of the Commonwealth with a total of nearly 2 billion people, will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding. The celebrations have already begun in Britain where Queen Elizabeth II is the nominal head of this organisation. On a smaller scale
a British geologist and adventurer...Felicity Aston, age 31, has taken upon herself to initiate and organise an all women expedition to the South Pole. The team comprising members selected from more than 800 applicants worldwide finally settled on one woman from each of the following countries...Brunei, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Singapore and Britain.
.
a British geologist and adventurer...Felicity Aston, age 31, has taken upon herself to initiate and organise an all women expedition to the South Pole. The team comprising members selected from more than 800 applicants worldwide finally settled on one woman from each of the following countries...Brunei, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Singapore and Britain..
The latest news I have as I'm typing this from the team's live website
is that the selected rep from Ghana will not be able to make it as she is down with malaria and will not recover in time. In her place will be a substitute from UK.
Singapore's representative is none other than SOPHIA PANG selected from more than 80 local applicants.
is that the selected rep from Ghana will not be able to make it as she is down with malaria and will not recover in time. In her place will be a substitute from UK.Singapore's representative is none other than SOPHIA PANG selected from more than 80 local applicants.
This 36 year old mother of 3 kids, a freelance IT as well as fitness instructor has all the attributes to make such an arduous journey.
She is a resident of Aljunied GRC and had approached Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister in PMO and MP for Serangoon Gardens to be her official patron. Thus on Thursday 29 October 2009, unk Dicko and other GROs were at Terminal 3 Changi Airport to bid her a "Bon Voyage" as she took the night SIA flight to London. From there, the team will proceed to Argentina before setting off for the Antartic on November 10.
Others who came to send her off included her special team of medical and physical trainers from the Changi Sports Medicine and Research Centre headed by Dr Ben Tan.
Photo:
Photo:
Unk Dicko with Sophia and her 2 personal trainers. I had a chat with them about the kind of training she had undergone for such a challenge.
From the description given, I can tell you it is no joke...not for the ordinary man or woman.
Sophia has the physical and mental toughness to remain on top of this very tough 40 day ski-trek into the heart of the Antartic iceland.
Btw, Dr Ben Tan ( our Asian Games Gold medal winning sailor) was a former student from HCJC...around 84/85.
Many of you may not know how hard Sophia had to work at getting funding. The entire expedition was at one stage in danger of being dropped
as no major sponsor could be found...that was not until Sophia herself managed to get a Singapore company Byteworks, a local distributor for Kaspersky Lab, a Russian computer security firm to agree to sponsor the entire team to the tune of US$500,000 ( S$711,201 ). It was an unbelievable achievement by itself!
Many of you may not know how hard Sophia had to work at getting funding. The entire expedition was at one stage in danger of being dropped
as no major sponsor could be found...that was not until Sophia herself managed to get a Singapore company Byteworks, a local distributor for Kaspersky Lab, a Russian computer security firm to agree to sponsor the entire team to the tune of US$500,000 ( S$711,201 ). It was an unbelievable achievement by itself!Read the full story, with more details in the two accompanying links below.
Next post ...more pics!
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20090916-168099.html
Next post ...more pics!
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20090916-168099.html
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