RELEASE. Srinigar, 33.1km and total distance 4416.7km The Spirit of India Run is done. Today, Pat Farmer took his last step at the Nishal Gardens in Srinagar, Kashmir to finish his epic run across India with a final total of 4400km. The Australian ultra-marathon legend embarked on his 65 day run on January 26, both India’s Republic Day and Australia Day. When he took his first step in Kanyakumari, the southern-most tip of India – where the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and th

Banihal to Anantnag, 80.7km Tomorrow was the day it would all come to a close and it was literally and figuratively uphill from here on out. The entire team was in overdrive to make things as perfect as they could be. For some of us it was the longest and most challenging journey of our lives. But Pat and the crew weren’t the only ones who would be crossing that finish line tomorrow. Thousands of people bore the weight of this run, the most historic marathon in the country’s

Patnitop to Banihal, 83km​ “What’s a shooting stone?” the crew photographer asked as he was hanging off the side – by this point in the journey, hanging off the side of the car felt as natural as sitting on the front porch. The driver screamed at him to get back into the vehicle in broken English; a few days ago when they were on a normal highway, it was fine for him to be out there. However, now they were on a narrow mountain road with no safety railing and a two hundred met

Gurdaspur to Pathankot, 44km Josh left us this morning. It was a sombre farewell – the evening before we brought out a cake and some candles. Pat put on John Denver’s Leaving on a Jet Plane from a tiny speaker and we all took turns serenading him. The girls – Tania and Katie – sounded wonderful, the men of the group sounded less graceful but made up for it with enthusiasm. Josh in Hindi translates to “energy” and for the 45 days he was with us, people referred to him as Mr En

The Australian government and Pat Farmer support the girl child. The following is a message from the Australian Consulate General: ​The Australian Consulate General in Mumbai has provided a grant of A$20,870 through the Direct Aid Program to the K.C. Mahindra Trust’s Project Nanhi Kali to provide academic, social and material support to 6192 disadvantaged girls in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The Australian Government welcomes Pat Farmer’s efforts to also raise funds for the Nanhi Ka

Ludhiana to Jalandhar, 80.5km The cars had fallen behind. They were caught in a traffic jam that was not moving. Any attempt to go around would result in them falling off the side of the road and into the ravine below. From the top of our car, as we were running down the single lane road on the way to Beas, it looking like a mass evacuation. The oncoming traffic comprised tens of thousands of cars driving towards a local Holy event in Rupnagar. It was a road under heavy const

Rupnagar to Ludhiana, 83.2km When Pat puts in his earphones it’s his universal sign for “I want to run alone”. At this point, unless you’re bringing him a cold drink or some important news, he doesn’t want to be disturbed. Yesterday he had his earphones in for 40km as he ran through the city of Ludhiana, pushing himself an extra five-and-a-half kilometres above his usual 80km. Music is a wonderful thing because it is indeed universal. Languages and tastes will vary across tim

Chhata to Baghola 66.1km The power during the concert as the storm hit. It’d been a long day, but finding shelter in the rain, in the dark, while eating cake was bliss. That morning was another border crossing. Like all the ones before, it’d been a rather chaotic transition. There were close to fifty boys who were running with Pat from 7am when we crossed into Haryana, and they nearly caused a major accident. The road towards Delhi from the border was narrow and busy. It felt

Dausa to Chhokarwara Kalan, 60km​ There are 110,000 young girls whose lives could be made better because of this run. Those girls, who would otherwise be locked in poverty, could grow up to be engineers, doctors or someday even the Prime Minister. “Today is International Women’s Day and on this day and, indeed, everyday since I started this run in Kanyakumari on 26 January right through to March 30 by supporting girls’ education,” Pat said. Today one of our vehicles broke dow

Udaipur to Rajsamand, 80km There are some situations which are so absurd and surreal, that it’s difficult to talk about; not because no one will believe us, but because when we look back even we would question our own perception of the events. But if the film crew didn’t capture it on video, we would never get to say we rode on the back of Harley Davidsons through an old city at 5 in the morning, blasting Another One Bites the Dust at full volume while the police escorted us