Ex-Australia MP Pat Farmer on 'Spirit of India' run reaches Vadodara

VADODARA: Former Australian MP and ultra-long distance runner Pat Farmer, who has embarked on a 4,600 km marathon run of the country during which he will promote bilateral ties besides aiding a charity for education of the girl child, has arrived here.

Upon arriving in the city yesterday, Farmer said, "Girls grow up to be mothers and if you educate a girl, you educate the mother, you educate the family, and you educate the nation."

The 4,600-km 'Spirit of India' run was flagged off from Kanyakumari on January 26 and would end in Srinagar on March 30. Farmer would cover 12 states and pass through cities like Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Ajmer, Jaipur, Agra, New Delhi and Chandigarh.

Farmer said the fund-raising for education of girls is planned in association with K C Mahindra Trust.

"Despite different castes, religions, languages, India is a united country, and I am enjoying running here. There is unity in diversity," he said.

The run would promote India-Australia relations, he said, adding it is in furtherance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Australia last year, which showed his "popularity".

The Ministry of External Affairs has created a live page tracking Farmer's run.

Farmer is well-known for finishing a 'Pole-to-Pole' run, during which he ran from the North Pole to the South Pole, and raised 1,00,000 Australian dollars for Australian Red Cross.

The former Australian politician claimed to have raised millions of dollars for various causes such as cancer treatment.

Earlier, Vadodara district Collector Avantika Singh, city Mayor Bharat Dangar among others welcomed Farmer, and said his run would inspire many youths to be athletes.