Angus King, of Leadhall Lane, was part of the Cold Beef/Polar Warriors team that saw off competitors from the Netherlands, France, China and Taiwan to take the crown.

"Before I set off, I knew it was going to be a hard challenge, but it was much harder even than I expected," he said.

"The environment is very harsh and one of the strangest things was the quiet. You don't hear anything.

"There's hardly any wildlife around."

Before the challenge began, much of the talk was of arctic predators. And though Angus only saw one polar bear during the race, another team faced one of the animals putting a paw into their tent.

Angus' team rose at 5:30am each day and walked for 12 to 14 hours. They ate double rations at night, living on a diet of bagged food between sit-down meals: fruit, nuts, beef jerky and cheese that continually froze.

Each morning the team awoke to find a layer of ice within their tent, which began to melt as soon as they turned on their cooker. As a result, a strict, timed routine had to be enforced to keep their kit in working order.

The exerting nature of the challenge and the extreme conditions faced by the competitors saw two contestants drop out during the five-day walk to the start line, while others were forced to quit the race suffering from frostbite.

On some days, with the windchill factor, the temperature dropped to -45C.

Speaking four days after the end of the race, Angus said his fingers were still numb, and were expected to stay so for ten days.

"I've lost about half of the muscle on my arms," he added.

"The body has to find a way to survive and even though we were eating so much, it had to convert that muscle to energy."

The Cold Beef/Polar Warriors team crossed the line in 13 days. They will receive their winners trophy in Cheltenham next month.