Aussie marathon man to run from North to South poles

SYDNEY (AFP) – – An Australian ultra-marathon athlete who holds records for the fastest run around his own country and across its vast desert centre Tuesday launched a bid to run from the North to South poles.

Pat Farmer, once dubbed Australia’s “Forrest Gump”, aims to raise 100 million US dollars for Red Cross water and sanitation programmes during his 21,000-kilometre (13,000-mile) journey through 14 countries in the Americas.

“I believe I’m born with a gift,” Farmer, 48, told AFP.

“My gift is to be able to run long distances faster and perhaps further than any other person on Earth, so I figure I’d be a fool if I had this gift and didn’t use it.”

Though the trip has been some 10 years in the making, Farmer said it was a recent trip to southeast Asia that inspired him to dedicate it to the Red Cross.

“I saw children covered with needlestick injuries in a dump trying to break syringes down to sell the metal inside for bottles of water,” he said.

“It was a heartbreaking turning point for me.

“By creating clean supplies of water and installing proper sanitation facilities — things we all take for granted in Australia — we can change people’s lives forever.”

His 11-month voyage will take him from freezing tundra through the tropics, and Farmer expects to go through more than 40 pairs of shoes and 300 pairs of socks.

“This is by far the greatest challenge of my life,” he said, adding that he had been training “like a man possessed”.

“To be quite honest with you I don’t know if I can run from the North pole to the South pole,” said Farmer, who also served for a decade as an Australian government MP.

“But I do know that I can run for 80 kilometres, or 85 kilometres or 90 or 100k’s a day and I do know that I can get up the next morning and do the same thing the next day.

“I will take it one day at a time and I will achieve this enormous goal.”

Farmer’s run starts at the North pole in March and will continue through Canada, the United States, Mexico and 10 South American countries before he arrives in Argentina to be airlifted to the final South Pole leg.

Once he is done he will return to the United States to address the United Nations about his journey and the plight that inspired him.

Former opposition Labor leader Mark Latham dubbed then federal politician Farmer, from the rival Liberal Party, “Forrest Gump” after the Hollywood movie in which the lead character runs across America.

Article taken from Yahoo News.