ADVENTURER and former rugby player Richard Parks is just 40 kilometres from the South Pole, but faces a race against time and dwindling supplies if he is to set a new British record.

Mr Parks, from Newport, is attempting to ski solo, unassisted, and unsupported from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole.

He took 25 days' food supplies with him, but today (Tuesday) is the 27th day of his expedition. Mr Parks has been rationing his remaining food and declined a re-supply, because this would mean his expedition was no longer unsupported, and any claim for the record would become void.

His team estimates his supplies will run out imminently.

But despite his precarious situation, the former Welsh rugby international remains upbeat and determined to push on with his efforts to set a new record.

In an update to his family, Mr Parks said: “In the tent now resting up and eating. Good block, good conditions and warm hands. Starting to feel upbeat."

If Mr Parks makes it to the pole by Thursday morning, he will set a new British record – which he himself set, in 2014.

Mr Parks also became became the first person to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents and stand on the North and South pole in the same calendar year, 2011.