A LAKE District couple are looking to be the first to get married at the South Pole.

Duncan Cameron, 31, and Claire Marritt, 25, of Lake Road, Ambleside, are set to follow in the footsteps of Captain Scott on the 100th anniversary of his ill-fated fated expedition.

They have been selected to make up half of a four person British team to walk and kite sail 1,500km unsupported across frozen Antarctica.

And once they reach their destination, the couple are exploring the possibility of tying the knot at the earth’s southern most point - becoming the first ever to do so.

“We are looking into it,” said Miss Marritt, who works as a fundraising co-ordinator at the Brathay Trust, Ambleside. “It would be up to one of the other team members to get ordained to perform the ceremony.

“That is one idea that I’m really excited about. I know that I wouldn’t be able to wear a big dress or anything but we would remember it for the rest of our lives. It would be amazing.”

Mr Cameron, who works as an operations manager at the Windermere Marina Village, and Miss Marritt are set to begin training for the epic adventure, which begins next year and should see them reach the South Pole on Christmas Day 2011.

They got involved in the expedition by responding to an advert placed by organisers Bull Precision Expeditions in a walking magazine.

“There was an advert in Trail magazine for an expedition across Antarctica which didn’t give all the details but said ‘with no guarentee of a safe return’,” said Mr Cameron. “I thought that sounds like it is for me.

“It is a big thing. It has been 100 years since he (Scott) tried to reach the pole so this type of opportunity doesn’t come around very often - it is an opportunity to commemorate him and what he achieved. He is a real hero of mine.”

In 1911 Robert Falcon Scott led the British Antarctic Expedition - also known as the Terra Nova Expedition - to the geographical South Pole. However, on their march back the five-man team ran into difficulties and none of them survived the journey.

Mr Cameron and Miss Marritt, who are both keen mountain bikers and skiers, will begin training with a visit to Norway where they will experience temperatures of -20C and will get used to pulling 85kg sledges.

Although they have taken part in local endurance events Miss Marritt accepts the expedition is on a whole different level.

“It is a challenge and something different,” she said. “It is a British team made of normal people not celebrities.

“When this opportunity came up I didn’t hesitate. It is unique, a big challenge that will push me to the extreme.”

The team, which if successful would be the youngest to achieve the trip in history, with an average age of 30, will have to cross mountainous glaciers that soar 3,900m above sea level. It is expected the trip will take around 50 days.

Steve Bull, owner of Bull Precision Expeditions, said: “This is not a walk in the park. It is a big trip with the quite high potential for something to go wrong. It is the scale of the trip. We think there are only two teams that have done it in history.”