44 replies to this topic

[runhard]

Not sure if this has been posted yet.

Pat Farmer is going to attempt to run from the South Pole to the North Pole to raise funds for his charity.

"Embarking in December 2010, famed Australian ultra-distance runner Pat Farmer will undertake the longest run on earth – from the South Pole, across the ice and through the continents of South and North America to the North Pole, covering 21,000 kilometres, (13,000 miles) through 14 countries for over a year."  from  http://www.poletopolerun.com/

What a legend!!

Edited by runhard, 24 July 2010 - 09:12 PM.

[crowpower]

I wonder how many people have been to both Poles?

Now that's doing it the hard way! I hope he makes it.

[Jogger]

cool - I'd love to do that run!

[Action]

crowpower, on Jul 24 2010, 11:04 PM, said:

I wonder how many people have been to both Poles?

I have only done the North Pole, but CR Scotsman has done both.

[grimsey]

Amazing, What a top achievement that would be, and what a great experience.

[crowpower]

Thanks for addressing my question Action. I have and I know several people who have done (or will do) both. All up, probably over a hundred people.

It's an enormous logistical exercise. You're not supposed to leave human waste of any kind in Antarctica. It has to be bundled up and removed from the continent. No doubt Pat Farmer will have a support crew. I'm glad he is not literally running on the ice but using skis.

He can't possibly be arriving at the North Pole in darkness as implied in the video, so his timing will require a short window of opportunity in early April 2012 when the ice will be still fairly compact and widespread and he can see. He will need a rifle to protect himself from a possible polar bear attack. They have an acute sense of smell and could detect his presence from dozens of kilometres away. It probably needs to be stated that there are no polar bears in Antarctica - it was a surprisingly common remark when people heard I was going there.

In the video Pat Farmer seems to be most concerned about the mountains of Canada. I have no doubt with his ultra running experience that he is capable of finishing the journey. The only thing which will prevent that is pure bad luck and hopefully he has done his homework, especially negotiating some of those South American countries.

[thomo]

Pat to try his luck

Quote

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.

[frankie17]

"I believe I'm born with a gift," Farmer, 48, told AFP.


I imagine the gift was not a kayak for the sea legs.  

[Skin and Bone]

Bloody marvellous Pat - wish I could go with you - all the best to the man - what a mission.     

[redbackrun]

here's the other thread on Pat & link to his website. xxxx
cheers
rbr

[thomo]

redbackrun, on Sep 14 2010, 06:18 PM, said:

here's the other thread on Pat & link to his website.
xxxx

cheers
rbr

Oops. I have asked by email for CR admin. to amalgamate the theads.

thomo
Edit to add merge Done

Edited by thomo, 14 September 2010 - 08:57 PM.

[craig9elf]

I wonder if he will make his course public so we can run with him when he comes through our towns.

That would be ubber cool!

[Jogger]

I apologise for the late notice, but we were advised on 12th Sept that there was a media event on 14th sept, presumably we could have rocked up and met the man himself.

 P2P.pdf   70.03K   10 downloads

[coachrollie]

craig9elf, on Sep 14 2010, 06:54 PM, said:

I wonder if he will make his course public so we can run with him when he comes through our towns.

That would be ubber cool!

"Bayside Brisbane" is a bit far from South America

[craig9elf]

Didn't realise he was running the America's.

[Digger]

While I wish him all the best, I just hope that he has contacted the IAU, and gets their guidelines for runs such as this, so that such an effort is fully verifiable.

This may seem a little bit pedantic, but  a lot of runners over the years doing these, unusual ultra runs, fiinsh, only to see their effort recorded with an 'Asterik', along side their achievement, with a footnote similar to:'Run not fully verifiable, and consequently the wider running community treat the effort with suspicion(In fact CR has several threads on several such runners).

Evidently, the proceedure to verify these runs reasonably simple, and therefore should be done.

[Ultraphil]

Unfortunately, the IAU dont recognise runs like this Digger. Hopefully the World Solo - Journey Running Body will be up and running by the time he finishes and we can give due recognition to his run.

[Digger]

Ultraphil, on Sep 26 2010, 06:02 PM, said:

Unfortunately, the IAU dont recognise runs like this Digger. Hopefully the World Solo - Journey Running Body will be up and running by the time he finishes and we can give due recognition to his run.

I thought they used to, as I remember seeing all of the Australian Runs somewhere, but when I searched this morning I couldn't find them.

[Hamburglar]

Pat was meant to be heading off from the North Pole last Saturday, but has been delayed in getting to the North Pole by bad weather as well as Prince Harry who is also doing a trek up there. It looks as if he will start in the next day or so.

He is planning to run apx. 2 marathons per day for 11 months, so every day that he is delayed adds to the daily km's he must complete  

Website is here.

Fastpacking gone crazy!

Edited by Hamburglar, 06 April 2011 - 01:20 PM.

[Twopennys]

Hamburglar, on 06 April 2011 - 01:16 PM, said:

Pat was meant to be heading off from the North Pole last Saturday, but has been delayed in getting to the North Pole by bad weather as well as Prince Harry who is also doing a trek up there. It looks as if he will start in the next day or so.

He is planning to run apx. 2 marathons per day for 11 months, so every day that he is delayed adds to the daily km's he must complete  

Website is here.

Fastpacking gone crazy!

Erm - more like fast sledding....

I've been following this via FB - here is the latest from the Expedition Leader here - looks like they are on their way!

[Spud]

I too have been following his FB updates. What an undertaking, the logistics alone.
2 marathons a day with no rest days.
-40C to +40C Giddyup!

[Twopennys]

They are at the North Pole

All down hill from here  

Edited by Twopennys, 06 April 2011 - 08:23 PM.

[KevM]

Spud, on 06 April 2011 - 03:34 PM, said:

I too have been following his FB updates. What an undertaking, the logistics alone.
2 marathons a day with no rest days.
-40C to +40C Giddyup!

That is massive.
Makes 50 marathons in 50 days by DK look relatively easy (for Pat that is).
Hope all goes well.
Much respect.

[runhard]

Looks like good weather to run in  

Hats off to all involved!!!  

[redbackrun]

Ch. 9 Today show just had a interview with Pat. He's covering about 20k a day & of course it's tough going.

[Nickelass]

Been enjoying following Pat's progress.  Incredible achievement.

[ausrunning]

Pat Farmer's icy world in pole-to-pole run

[Twopennys]

I've followed this from day 1 and I've gotta say I'm struggling to get my head around the enormity of it. I also confess, I thought the wheels would fall off somewhere along the line (no reflection on Pat - I just thought it was highly unlikely anyone could/would achieve this).

And now he's nearly finished!

It would be good to know how much he has raised for the Red Cross?

[Spud]

I too have been following, a truly remarkable feat. He's a better runner than he is a pollie

[Ultraphil]

Yes incredible achievement, even though when he finishes the South Pole bit, he does have to go back to Chile and finish quite a bit of it off down to the southern tip of South America.

[ausrunning]

Pat Farmer's in Argentina. His twitter read Pat has now added another world record to his list of achievements, fastest man on foot to the South Pole (5 days off the previous record)

Twopennys, on 16 January 2012 - 07:23 PM, said:

It would be good to know how much he has raised for the Red Cross?

Pat's raised $100K according to economist Steven Levitt.

[Twopennys]

Thanks AusR1

If the $100k is right, it's a shame the people of the World haven't got more behind Pat and donated more.

Whilst that sounds a lot of money that the Red Cross wouldn't have otherwise had (and it is) it isn't a huge return (about $5 per km) for all the effort and no doubt logistical cost. Particularly if you compare it to Pat's feat of raising $500k for the Millenium Foundation from his 24 hour vertical run in 2006.

With the range of cost of a drinking well in Africa being around $6k for a shallow dig and circa $30k for a deep dig, the money isn't going to go too far. Having said that, no doubt several hundreds, if not thousands of people will benefit.

NB - for the avoidance of doubt, I'm not being critical of Pat - it is a marvellous accomplishment in terms of running and fundraising - just a pity it hasn't captured the imagination of more people and motivated them to dig into their pockets.

Not far to go now....

Edited by Twopennys, 27 January 2012 - 02:02 PM.

[johnnyboyrun]

I think Pat Farmer is an exceptional athlete and some of the epic adventures he has done are nothing short of remarkable... I noticed some people said he has only raised 100k??? That is quite sad and got me thinking that the cost of his latest expedition would far exceed that.... Im sure he has his charity at heart, but surely the driving motivation for his quest to complete these adventures is his own accomplishments... I cant help but think that that 100k and a year of his own time and profile couldnt be better spent somewhere near the Horn of Africa (maybe running accross africa) helping with one one the worst cases of poverty and drought the world has even seen rather running from pole to pole....

I know a lot of you will shoot me down and i can cop the kick back, but just giving my two cents worth

Cheers
J

Edited by johnnyboyrun, 01 February 2012 - 02:06 PM.

[Tony123]

johnnyboyrun, on 01 February 2012 - 02:06 PM, said:

I think Pat Farmer is an exceptional athlete and some of the epic adventures he has done are nothing short of remarkable... I noticed some people said he has only raised 100k??? That is quite sad and got me thinking that the cost of his latest expedition would far exceed that.... Im sure he has his charity at heart, but surely the driving motivation for his quest to complete these adventures is his own accomplishments... I cant help but think that that 100k and a year of his own time and profile couldnt be better spent somewhere near the Horn of Africa (maybe running accross africa) helping with one one the worst cases of poverty and drought the world has even seen rather running from pole to pole....

I know a lot of you will shoot me down and i can cop the kick back, but just giving my two cents worth

Cheers
J

Well said. No doubt Pat could have raised more money if he simply knocked on doors or rattled a tin at a busy intersection in Melbourne or Sydney for a year.  But Pat enjoys running, just like most of us, so thats what he does.

[Hamburglar]

I thought he was trying to raise $100 MILLION not 100k. I am sure it is in the millions and not thousands.

Edited by Hamburglar, 01 February 2012 - 03:57 PM.

[Colin]

Hamburglar, on 01 February 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

I thought he was trying to raise $100 MILLION not 100k. I am sure it is in the millions and not thousands.

"Trying to"

See this and a possible explanation

[johnnyboyrun]

Colin, on 01 February 2012 - 04:34 PM, said:

"Trying to"

See this and a possible explanation

interesting eading

Edited by johnnyboyrun, 02 February 2012 - 01:26 PM.

[run2work]

johnnyboyrun, on 01 February 2012 - 04:39 PM, said:

nteresting eading

Shame really, but my gut feeling as well is that in this day of extreme sports, running a long way does not inspire as much as it used to do for most people.

A local fella ran from Wagga to Dubbo a few months ago and still managed to raise (I think) $15,000 for a specific charity (an African village well or something, I can't remember exactly). He did well with the run and also the fund raising, with his wife helping a lot, she being involved in local media. The funds were promised before the run started, which is the way to go.

So it can still be done, but 100 million dollars. Wow, that is a lot. You would have thought that Pat would have had a lot more than $100,000 promised before he took his first step.

Still, I think it is a tremendous achievement, and I am in awe of the man. Good on ya Pat.

[Jogger]

Colin - top marks for those links - something well worth mulling over.

[Colin]

Jogger, on 02 February 2012 - 11:37 AM, said:

Colin - top marks for those links - something well worth mulling over.

Found it via Ausrunning1's comment.

But, to digress and mull over, when we look at 6Ft and the possibilities of what to do with entries vs demand and the potential to raise more money, we definitely have to consider these things.

I for one don't like doing Syd-Gong now simply because you have to 'raise' money from friends - I just take it that the entry fee has increased and I should pay that required amount if I want to do it. Our 6Ft experience with EDH fundraising shows that with the same group of entrants showing a willingness to raise money, that money is actually diminishing every year because most likely their coleagues and friends are saying "ok, we know you can do that...you have to raise the bar a bit to make it a 'costly exercise' on your part".
In general I think that eventually the community does get 'fundraised out' and there is more return in actually just contributing hours to community directly.

[ausrunning]

Farmer's almost there.

[ausrunning]

Now at Tierra del Fuego. Fundraising or not this is one of the great journey runs.

[chrisso]

ABC radio interview with Pat

[MrD]

I have just finished reading the book Pat wrote of his epic journey. I also can't believe that this epic run did not capture more of the fundraising dollar. Pat sold his house to pay for initial logistical costs of the journey and chipped in 10K of his own cash to kickstart the donations, he certainly has come out behind.

The book really brings alive the journey and he is one remarkable athlete to keep going through the conditions that he experienced.

[Ralphk]

I've got the book at home but I still have to read it.
It looks amazing (have been following him online) and it incredible how normal he thinks he is.
(video about it here)