VietNamNet Bridge - In the marathon program "Pole To Pole: Vietnam", Australian athlete Pat Farmer completed the trip from Mong Cai to Hanoi on December 13.




The 50-year-old athlete is on the marathon through 30 cities and provinces of Vietnam, Pole To Pole: Vietnam, which started on December 9 and is scheduled to finish on January 20, 2013.

He will run an average 80km per day from Mong Cai in Quang Ninh Province to the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

The 3,200km-long marathon will help the Red Cross provide clean water for poor people. This is the first time that a foreigner has attempted such an extraordinary journey in Vietnam. He will also take 3 days to Jet-ski along the Mekong Delta back up to HCM City Harbor (Ben Nha Rong) during the trip.

Pat Farmer, an ultra-marathon athlete, motivational speaker, and former Australian politician, will be joined by Vietnamese-Australian Mai Nguyen Dinh Huy for the long journey. The event will highlight the 40th anniversary of ties between Australia and Vietnam.

A film crew will cover the entire journey on land and sea, with Pat doing regular interviews on Australian TV, and other forms of media.

In January 2012, Farmer accomplished one of the greatest feats in human history. He arrived at the South Pole after the longest and arguably most dangerous run ever made, a physical and mental triumph that put him in the company of the world’s greatest adventurers.

The 21,000-kilometer Pole to Pole Run, dedicated to raising funds for the Red Cross, began at the North Pole in April 2011 and took him through Canada, the U.S., Central America and South America to his ultimate destination in the Antarctic, the South Pole. The route took him from the North Pole to the South Pole over 10 months and 13 days.

Before the record trip from the North Pole to the South Pole, he made many ultra-marathon world records: passing 6,307 km in 83 days in 1999; 10,000 km in 129 days in 1999; world record for running across the Simpson Desert in 129 days in 1996 and 1998 and other records.

Sharing emotion and attitudes to live with Pat Farmer, Mai Nguyen Dinh Huy, a Vietnamese Australian, gave up his new job to join Farmer’s run in Vietnam.

In the afternoon of December 13, after the first five days of the run, Pat Farmer and Mai Nguyen Dinh Huy completed the journey from Mong Cai to Hanoi.

On this occasion, the Australian Embassy in Vietnam calls for the support of the people to the event. Those who want to join Farmer even a 10m, 100m or 1km can send mail to poletopolevietnam@gmail.com.

Today, December 14, Pat Farmer and his companion will enter the second stage of the run, with the road from Hanoi to Ninh Binh.

Compiled by Nam Nguyen