Stand Up: Team Penguin and soon-to-be Arctic explorers

So… what’s Team Penguin all about? I’m guessing you like penguins?

We’re a group of four students who undertook a project that provided an alternative form of transportation around St Andrews – pedicabs. You might have noticed them during Freshers’ Week last semester (us panting and peddling at the front). We wanted to offer a much more sustainable way of getting about, considering the hordes of students who take taxis across a fairly short distance.

We were aiming to raise awareness about environmental impacts of travel and an individual’s carbon footprint – so you could say we care for penguins and their habitat, yeah!

And this project was part of a competition?

We set up the project as part of the npower Future Leaders competition. npower are a UK energy company, who run annual competitions for undergraduates across Britain. We started planning in April 2012 and after making videos about our proposal we were chosen as one of the final 8 teams and were given £400 in funding to make the project happen. We hired 2 pedicabs from Edinburgh company B-Spokes, got them up here and then cycled them about, all in the name of charity, receiving donations from riders in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

And you won!

Yeah, we did! None of us could believe it. All the other teams’ projects were really good, and when they announced our name, we just sat at our table in shock before having to be encouraged and poked up onto stage.

So the prize is…?

An Arctic Circle expedition, would you believe it? We are over the moon about it and cannot wait to get out there – or should we say up there.

When are you off on this adventure and what will it involve?

We’re going to Alta, Norway on March 1st for a week and we’ll basically just be travelling round the Arctic. But the best thing about it is that we’ll be doing this by sledding, and we’ll be in control of the dogs. We have to look after them and feed them and everything. Should be interesting! We’re aiming to travel 50 miles per day and we’ll have one guide with us. We really will be at the mercy of the elements (though fortunately there will be cabins along the way to sleep in).

How are you preparing for such a mission – gym sessions!?

Some gym-going yeah, and we’ve had to buy loads of kit such as hand warmers, goggles and even head torches! We’ll really look the part. They’ll show us how to handle the dogs when we get out there, so there’s not too much we can do beforehand. We did go to Dartmoor last year for 2 days to build up teamwork skills and as a kind of endurance test. That was actually quite fun so we have wild expectations for the Arctic.

Is sustainability something that’s important to you?

It’s really important – students need to be made aware of the impact they have on the environment. This project was a fun way to do that and it forced us to be a little fitter for at least a few days. Peddling uphill with three people in the cab is pretty hard work!

Give Team Penguin’s pedicab project video a watch here: