Richard Donovan (born 1966)
is an
Irish runner, commercial race organizer, and
sports administrator. Donovan organised and was first to complete the inaugural
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...
Marathon in January 2002, then completed the first marathon-length run in the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
in April of that year.
He used the publicity from this to launch his North Pole Marathon venture, offering runners an
adventure tourism experience, with the 2018 event costing €16,000.
Between 30 January and 5 February 2009, Donovan claimed a worlds best for running seven marathons, on seven different continents, in fewer than seven days.
Starting 1 February 2012 he improved on this by completing the 7 on 7 in under 120 hours.
Donovan has also completed transcontinental runs across North America in 2015 and Europe in 2016,
adding South America in 2017. In addition to the North Pole Marathon, he organizes a number of other commercial events.
See also
*
Antarctic Ice Marathon & 100k ultra race
The Antarctic Ice Marathon was established by Richard Donovan and Polar Running Adventures to enable marathon runners to complete a marathon on all seven continents. It also enables athletes to complete the marathon grand slam – a marathon on ...
*
World Marathon Challenge
World Marathon Challenge is a multievent marathon competition that involves completing seven full run marathon races on seven continents in seven days.
History
The first World Marathon Challenge was held in 2015, beginning in Antarctica on Janua ...
*
North Pole Marathon
References
1960s births
Living people
Irish male marathon runners
Sportspeople from County Galway
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