A TEAM of four staff from Taunton-based medical insurer WPA is in training to travel to the Magnetic North Pole.

The group had time off from their Blackbrook office this week for a week-long training exercise on Exmoor, even though one of them will not make the final cut for the Polar Challenge in April.

The chosen three will each pull a 90kg sled 280 miles in a fortnight across the Arctic in temperatures as low as -50F in ice lands patrolled by polar bears.

The four have been training in the gym after work and on the moors at weekends since they were selected from a workforce of 290 in November.

They will spend a week taking part in acclimatisation training in Norway in March before one unlucky member is told they will not be making the trip, which involves ten teams of three from across the world.

The other three will embark on April 6 after flying out to Canada on their challenge to reach a Pole only ever visited by 400 people.

The race will help raise funds for Taunton Opportunity Group for pre-school children with special needs and Parents And Children Together, which helps under-privileged families with transport and accommodation when their children need treatment in a specialist hospital away from home.

The four hopefuls are:

Accounts controller Rob Richardson, 30, a former Queen's College, Taunton, pupil who plays rugby for Taunton.

Business development manager Tansy Han-son, 26, who has been on exercise with the Territorial Army and the Royal Marines.

Intermediary executive Ben Bates, 22, of Langport, who loves the outdoors.

New policies adviser Richard Tutill, 25, of Taunton, a former Queen's pupil who plays football for Wellington.