Steve Richards was ready to defend his 2011 title until Siberian weather gave him second thoughts. "Now look chaps, let's not be silly. If it's still Arctic out there then we oughtn't put our lives on the line," he told the assembled press pack on his doorstep before retreating back indoors with a nice, warm cup of tea. And who can blame him?

What might have been... The brave challengers were: Rob Allum, Giacco Bridgett, James Gleadow, Peter Hollman, Aroon Korgoankar, Lahri Mohamd, Sandeep Nair, Steve Richards, Luke Hollman, Fred Janaway, Jon Brown, Alex Jessop-Emmins, Forhad Ahmed, Soumik Bhattacharjee, Stacey Harvey & Max McGill.

Too cold