07/07/07 - Launch of Irish Cancer Society 777 Challenge

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday July 07, 2007 11:45 by RF

Mayo man to break world record

Saturday 07/07/07 sees the launch of the 777 challenge. This is an amazing world record attempt by Mark Scanlon to be the youngest person ever to successfully complete seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive months. The first marathon takes place in San Fransisco on 29/07/07 and the last marathon is 20/01/08 in Mumbai, India. The other destinations along the way are Antartica, Sydney, Longford, Kenya and Buenos Aires.

Runners at UCD track in Belfield interrupt their training to help launch the 777 challenge on the 07 of July 2007. The aim of the challenge is to raise €50k for the Irish Cancer Society

Mark is 24 years of age and hails originally from Ballina, Co.Mayo. He is using the events to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society. ' I wanted to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society and came up with the idea of breaking a world record, I started reading the Guinness Book of Records and there it was.'

Mark hopes to fundraise along the way and has set up a website www.777challenge.com where people can donate online. He hopes also to recruit running mates along the way. ' People can sign up online to run a marathon with me and raise money for the Cancer Society'. The aim is to raise 50,000 euro.

Mark is also appealing for corporate sponsors to become involved and help cover the costs. ' This is a major feat of logistics and organisation as well as being a severe test of my endurance, the marathon in Antartica is run at –32 degrees.' Any interested corporate sponsors can contact Mark online. Mark will launch his 777 challenge on Saturday at 1.30pm in Greystones, Co.Wicklow just prior to his Spar Mile Challenge event there.