Athletics
SA pair complete 3 000km run
2013-01-24 11:40
David Crombie and Mark Barron (Facebook)
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Johannesburg - Having run 3 000km in three months, across three countries, two veteran South African athletes have completed a mammoth endurance challenge for charity.
Sports scientist David Crombie, a cancer survivor, and veterinary surgeon Mark Barron finished the Mekong River Run on Wednesday, and celebrated their achievement with a swim at Phuroc Cung, located on the South China Sea.
"Our journey was eventful to say the least, having been met with landslides, monsoons, extreme temperatures, snakes, ill-health and militia. And that was on a good day," Crombie said.
Accompanied by a driver and a local guide in a four-wheel drive vehicle, they ran a marathon on six out of seven days for the past three months along Southeast Asia's Mekong River.
They journeyed through Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam in an effort to raise funds for Western Cape child protection organisation Home from Home.
World renowned sports scientist Tim Noakes, the honorary patron of the endurance challenge, commended Crombie and Barron for completing the task.
"What an incredible achievement that's made even better thanks to its wonderful cause," Noakes said.
"The logistical and physical challenges that the two men have overcome were daunting and I am immensely pleased that their initial concerns for their safety did not materialise.
"An epic event that few but these two men could ever complete so brilliantly," he said.