BRECON-based Army captain Lou Rudd has been beaten in his bid to become the first person to cross Antarctica unaided.

American adventurer Colin O’Brady accomplished the feat on Boxing Day having started his attempt on November 1 this year - the same day that Capt Rudd also set out to achieve the goal.

Lou, who is an Army captain based at the Dering Lines Infantry Battle School, had spent most of Christmas Day skiing across the snowy terrain at high altitude as he sought to cross the continent from Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf to the finish point on the Ross Ice Shelf - a distance of 1,500km (1,290 miles).

But this morning it has been reported that the 33-year-old American had reached the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf on Day 54 of his expedition.

In an incredible last push, O’Brady had gone the last 32 hours of his expedition without sleep, covering 80 miles since his last overnight stop to defeat his British rival.

Both men had already reached the South Pole and, like Colin, Lou has been making good progress and now expects to complete his own trek within three or four days.

To be the first men to cross Antarctica unaided both Lou and Colin have to ski solo the whole way, dragging all the supplies they need.

In his Day 53 blog Lou reported that he started skiing at 2100 hours on Christmas Eve and continued skiing until 0500 on Christmas Day - covering 14 nautical miles - taking advantage of favourable weather.

He then "got going again around about 10 on Christmas Day and did another stint in truly foul weather".

He then described how the going had got much harder as the wind picked up.

He wrote: "The wind was still really strong, it was a massive side wind, it was really buffeting me around – the pulk (sled) was just like an out-of-control dog on a leash behind me. I was all over the place trying to control the thing, pulling me about. Really bad visibility as well. The nav was really tricky."

But in the last hour of the day, he added, "everything cleared weather-wise. The sun came out; blue skies and then the peaks of the Transantarctic mountains, which I haven’t seen at all all day, but I knew were close, all lit up before me. It was fantastic."

Capt Rudd said he barely realised that in the "complete whiteout" he had been climbing all day. He is now approaching the top of the Leverett Glacier after which his journey to the finish on Ross Shelf will be mostly downhill.

He is currently at an altitude of 8,142ft.

His blog concludes: "As the crow flies, actually not as the crow flies, I mean the waypoints and routes marked out, I’m 70 nautical miles now from the finish point. So I’m going to try and crack that in three days – if the conditions, surface and weather allow – I’m going to try and get three 20 nautical mile days in, and get the expedition done in three days if all goes well. But hey, you never know with Antarctica, she may have other ideas, but that’s my plan. Let’s see if I can crack it."

It is not yet known what Lou’s reaction is to the news that his American rival has beaten him to Ross Shelf. However he is expected to continue to push on to the finish line as quickly as possible.