Ski race to South Pole begins

Six ski teams set off on an international race to the South Pole on Sunday, nearly a century after Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen beat Britain's Robert Scott to reach it, organisers said.

The teams, which include an Olympic rower and a blind Irishman, will travel 430 nautical miles (800km) across the Antarctic ice cap.

Their race is billed as the first to the South Pole since the Amundsen-Scott rivalry that ended with the Norwegian's triumph in December 1911.