World Record
10 000 km in 129 days
Adventurer of the Year
National Geographic, 2012
3rd in the World
1000 miles on a track
2 World Records
for crossing the Simpson Desert
The Fastest Man to Run Around Australia
1999 Centenary of Federation Run
Pat's Run Around Australia for the Centenary of Federation
Pat left Parliament House, Canberrra on 31 May 1999 and completed his run in Centennial Park, Sydney on 12 December 1999.
In all, Pat ran 14,500 km in 195 days, averaging 80 kms a day.
The purpose of the run was to create an awareness of the Centenary of Federation for Australians and to symbolically link all the states and territories.
Ultra Marathon man Pat Farmer became the fastest man to run around Australia when he arrived in Canberra - breaking a sixteen-year record held by Queenslander Ron Grant for the new Australian and World Long Run Record.
Pat completed the 14,400kms circuit from point to point three weeks ahead of schedule, in 191 days.
He sliced 26 days off the previous record set by Ron Grant in 1986 of 217 days. By including Tasmania, Pat added an additional 1,000kms to Ron's run.
Pat smashed twelve current records, crossed six states and two territories and completed an astonishing 343 marathons in just six and a half months.
The welcome home came from the sky as well with parachutists diving into the Australian capital carrying an Australian flag and a Centenary of Federation flag as Pat ran to the finish line, where he was greeted by Prime Minister John Howard.
The next day, Pat still had the final leg of his run to complete. He faced a gruelling 90 plus kilometre day as he headed towards his home town of Sydney, where he arrived after running a mind blowing 14,986.3 kilometres over 195 days - averaging almost two marathons a day with no days off. He made record pace into Sydney and had to take a detour to Bondi when organisers realised he was going to arrive at Centennial Park more than an hour ahead of schedule!
Above: Pat heading for Bondi after having been detoured for being more than an hour ahead of his scheduled finish in Centennial Park
The run ended at the birthplace of Australia's Federation. A crowd of several hundred people waved Centenary of Federation flags and applauded as he reached the finish line.
He wore out 14 pairs of shoes, rose daily at 4am to run 80kms per day and met hundreds of thousands of Australians as he visited schools, attended civic receptions, stopped for well wishers and received public welcomes.
Visit Pat's archived website at
Australia's National Library Archive- PANDORA.
"I hope more than anything that this run instills in everybody's heart what a single Australian is capable of doing... to be the best that you possibly can be at whatever it is that you choose to be and how lucky we are to be in a country that provides us with the opportunity to do just that. "
Pat Farmer
Above: Pat and the Prime Minister, John Howard at the finish of the Run Around Australia
"It doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what field that you choose to excel in, if you give it your all, if you give it your best, then your efforts are just as worthy as any gold medal that any Olympian can ever get- just as worthy as anything that anybody else on this earth can ever do. "
Pat Farmer
Records Broken:
During his Run Around Australia, Pat broke 13 records, including:
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The prestigious 10,000km Long Run Record in 129 days, 1 hour and 36 minutes
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The fastest around-Australia record of continuous running in 191 days and 10 minutes (around 6 months) over 14,662.4km.
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A long-standing Australian Long Run Record of continuous running 13,383km in 174 days (smashing the previous record by 43 days, previously held by Ron Grant since 1983)
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The World Long Run Record of Continuous Running (same as new Australian record)
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The WA border to border record, 4952km in 62 days, 19 hours, 43 minutes
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The WA border to Perth record, 3455.3km in 42 days
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The Brisbane to Darwin record, 3955.2km in 51 days, 6 hours, 21 minutes (wiping 9 days off the original record)
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The Tropic of Capricorn Continuous Long Run Record, 6307km in 83 days 1 hour 44 minutes (taking 16 days off the original record)
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The Brisbane to Northern Territory border, 2535.4km in 31 days, 8 hours, 55 minutes
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The Qld Long Run Record, 2649km in 33 days, 4 hours, 25 minutes
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The Northern Territory Continuous Long Run record, 2201km in 29 days 6 hours 58 minutes (taking 5 days 10 hours off the original record)
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The Darwin to Perth record, 4217km in 53 days (smashing 24 days off the previous record)
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The Brisbane to Perth record, 8204.7km in 105 days