ARCTIC Fox Rachel Pearson, from Ashcombe, is today in Greenland just 48 hours before she and three other women start their world record attempt at crossing the ice-cap.

Miss Pearson, a former Teignmouth Community College student, and her colleagues – they call themselves the Arctic Foxes – flew from Stansted yesterday to Copenhagen and from there to Greenland.

They aim to become the first all-female British team to break the record, currently standing at six days 23 hours, for crossing the frozen wasteland. And even if they don't set a new time, they will be the first British females to have crossed the ice. Miss Pearson – her parents farm at Ashcombe – said that the team was now simply waiting to get going. 'There's all sorts of last-minute packing and so on, but the excitement is there and we want to get going,' she told me from Kent. 'I'm excited and longing for it to start.' Chances of a record-breaking attempt are good – the women will use power kites to speed them across the snow providing the winds are suitable. Most of the time they will be on skis, dragging sledges weighing about 60kg (nearly 91/2 stone) behind them. They are due to cover around 900 miles on the return trek. Miss Pearson said earlier: 'The Greenland ice-cap is a Polar desert and we will be braving hidden crevasses, Arctic winds, temperatures as low as minus 40°C and the ever-present danger of inquisitive Polar bears. 'This is the biggest challenge I have ever attempted and I am both excited and scared in equal measure.' Miss Pearson – the four were on Dartmoor just a few days ago for extra first-aid and strength training – has now left her job as an events co-ordinator with the Terrence Higgins Trust to take part in the challenge. She and her colleagues – the other three are Felicity Stone, Jenny Pugh and Jo Vellino – have been training for months for what they call the Greenland Quest. At the same time, the team will be raising money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Later this year, Miss Pearson hopes to return to Devon to give a series of talks about her experience. Her father, David Pearson, said the family was 'really proud of Rachel. We will be with her in spirit if not in body. We know the Arctic Foxes can make it across the ice.'