5. The Baptist minister who crawled 1,600 miles to the White House
In 1978, a 39 year old Baptist minister Hans Mullikin arrived at the White House after crawling 1,600 miles from Marshall, Texas. His legs were wrapped in furs and sheathed in thin galvanized steel; one of his wheels on his armrests was smaller than the other to compensate for road-grade. On the 22nd of November, 1978 he ended his two and a half year crawl only to hear from an aide that President Carter was too busy to see him. “I just wanted to show America that we need to get on our knees and repent,” Mullikin told reporters. “This is something I had in my heart and wanted to do for my country.”
4. The Australian man who circumnavigated the globe with an amphibious vehicle
Ben Carlin, an Australian, took the challenge to circumnavigate the world in a modified amphibious jeep. He set out with his wife Elinore as first mate in 1950. His wife eventually came to her senses and left the expedition somewhere in India at about 3/4 of the journey but Ben continued with other mates finally completing the voyage in 1958. The trip began and ended in Montreal, Canada. It took 8 years, covering 62,000 km on land and 17,000 km on sea.
3. The man who completed 4,115 km pushing a wheelbarrow to raise money for cancer research
David Baird completed his Herculean 112-day journey pushing a wheelbarrow across Australia (that’s 4,115 km or 2,557 miles on foot). He did this to raise money for breast and prostate cancer research. The fit looking 65-year-old said he was feeling ‘amazingly good’, considering he had traveled a massive 4,115km on foot. He ran the equivalent of one hundred full marathons in just 112 days. Taking in about 70 towns along the way, Mr Baird said he pushed the wheelbarrow for between 10 and 12 hours a day. While he never had any doubts he wouldn’t complete his journey, he admitted each day “was hard”. During the charity run well-wishers threw more than £9,145 ($20,000) into the barrow.
2. The man who literally ran around the entire globe
British runner Robert Garside, also known as The Runningman, is credited by Guinness World Records as the first person to run around the world. Garside began his record-setting run after several aborted attempts leaving Cape Town, South Africa, and London, England. Garside set off from New Delhi, India, on October 20, 1997, completing his run at the same point on 13 June, 2003. Garside’s run has been questioned by other runners and by the press. Due to the inherent difficulties certifying such accounts, Guinness World Records spent several years evaluating evidence before declaring it authentic.
During his run, he updated his online website, wwww.runningman.org, with a portable computer, describing an arduous journey complicated by human and natural hurdles that included physical attacks and imprisonment as well as grueling climate extremes. He also met with considerable assistance, as he was offered lodgings around the globe in such diverse settings as five-star hotels and private homes to prison cells and police stations. In addition to corporate sponsorship of £50,000, he indicated he received £120,000 in donations from individuals. Along the way, Garside also found love, meeting girlfriend Endrina Perez in Venezuela.
It took him 2,062 days to cover 30,000 miles (48,000 km) across 29 countries and 6 continents. He used 50 pairs of trainers.
1. The student who did a 3,000 mile walk from Beijing to Germany and made a short film
Christoph Rehage’s birthday present to himself in November 2007 was to go for a long walk. The plan was to walk from Beijing, China — where Rehage was a student — to his home in Bad Nenndorf, Germany. An amazing proposition, when you consider the vastness of China.
Along the way, he photographed himself. We’ve all seen those “picture a day” time-lapse videos. But the five-minute version of Rehage’s epic walkabout, eventually covering over 4,000 kilometers, is in a league of its own. We see a young, clean shaven man being changed by his adventure. There’s obvious physical hardship: snow and the blazing sands of the Gobi desert, long, empty highways, and the pain of endless plodding. His hair and beard grow wild. People come and go; places spin behind him. Rehage finds love — and maybe heartbreak, too.
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