This Kid Will Do Whatever You Want in Antartica

http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/03/for-27-this-kid-will-do-whatever-you-want-in-antartica-on-tuesday/

by jasonshen • 16 years ago

110 49 16 years ago

hugh32• 16 years ago

Interesting details missing: how does one run a marathon in Antarctica anyway? Firstly, how do you get down there? And secondly, where do you find a good place to run (ie somewhere where you won't slip on ice or fall into a crevasse?)

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

1) Set up a plane to Puntas Arenas, Chile. 2) Coordinate with group of other crazy people to fly to Antarctica 3) Bring LOTS of warm clothing. 4) To run, be very careful. Mostly shuffling. 5) Find big ice sheets to run on

- Travis (the guy running the marathons)

Semiapies• 16 years ago

Have a safe trip and a safe race. :)

borism• 16 years ago

don't all ice sheets have crevices? I thought they run on permafrost in Antarctica...

alexophile• 16 years ago

Question: I want to donate and give the do-something-in-antarctica option as a gift (preferably anonymously), is there any way to make that happen?

noisebleed• 16 years ago

Wow, I'm extremely curious how that will pan out. Going to Antarctica has been a lifelong dream of mine, and I always thought it was relatively difficult to do, but I suppose there aren't border guards.

Incidentally, I'm from North Dakota so I know we're supposed to be mortal enemies, but I do wish you the best of luck.

markbnine• 16 years ago

They just had a turkey trot (5k) in Antarctica...

http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/Summer%20on%20the%20Ice/posts/...

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

That's what I have to look forward to! It's going to be Awesome!!

js2• 16 years ago

One way to do it:

http://www.marathontours.com/index.cfm/page/Event-Informatio...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica_Marathon

Though that's not on the continent itself. There was previously the South Pole marathon:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/siadventure/14/sou...

http://www.angelfire.com/wy2/marathon/SouthPoleMarathon.html

http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/tocvol6.htm (scroll down to South Pole Marathon).

(Aside, for anyone interested in running, I highly recommend a subscription to Marathon & Beyond.)

hugh32• 16 years ago

That's great. Running a marathon (I've already done a half) and visiting Antarctica (I've already done all but one of the other continents) are both on my to do list. I probably shouldn't tick them both off in one go, though.

ianchanmanu• 16 years ago

go Travis go! you're the bomb! for 27 dollars he will go wild!

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

Thanks Ian! woOOOooohooOOOOooo!

mhartl2• 16 years ago

Travis: if you ever want to learn web development with Ruby on Rails, you've got a free PDF+screencast bundle from http://railstutorial.org/ waiting for you. :-)

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

Thanks for the offer but I'm a pretty big PHP guy (yeah, I know, snide comments)... ;)

nowarninglabel4• 16 years ago

I for one support your use of PHP. I'm thinking now my donation request will consist of you putting up some permanent ice monument in support of PHP in Antarctica.

mhartl2• 16 years ago

So was I, once upon a time...

dtran• 16 years ago

Congrats Travis! Long-deserved recognition for all that you do for Gumball

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

Thanks David!

gxs• 16 years ago

I'm usually not a stickler for details, but Stanford is not an Ivy League school.

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

My apologies. I meant to say Ivy League caliber... ;)

corin_3• 16 years ago

Upvoted in agreement, although as an "Ivy Plus" Stanford is the next closest thing to an Ivy League school.

c1utch2• 16 years ago

> the next closest thing to an Ivy League school.

Most people would agree that Stanford is better than many of the Ivy schools.

[No, I did not go to Stanford]

nowarninglabel4• 16 years ago

Boo for Paypal, why not use an alternative, perhaps WePay or similar?

I tried (in a couple browsers) to make a donation via the link in the TechCrunch article, but got "Sorry — your last action could not be completed".

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

Yeah, I know. I'd love to set up something like WePay but simply didn't have the time and we're already verified on Paypal. But I would like to talk to the WePay guys... :)

Also, the link doesn't work in TC but it does work when you visit our page - http://gumballcapital.org/7-Marathons-7-Continents/ - and click "Make a Donation"

Sorry for the difficulties!

nowarninglabel4• 16 years ago

Thanks, new link works, but how can I tell you my suggestion? I guess you could you just check the e-mail address the donation comes from?

xcabose• 16 years ago

Why would one really does this? This does not seem reasonable what so ever. I do like the kid's idea, but its counter intuitive. The cost to get to Antarctica ranges from 5-14k. I dunno if that came out of his own pocket or what, but from what the article infers, it didn't. Also running 7 marathons in 7 continents, seems pretty expensive again. All that money wasted on travel could of gone to running the same program you already have locally. I have more questions but I'll direct those via email.

funthree• 16 years ago

Small nitpick on my part to the original article, but this guy is not a kid, he's an adult. He's a man

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

Yes, I'm 23. And I'm a kid at heart.

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

I'm doing this because I wanted to do something so crazy that it would help raise awareness for this organization. In two hours here's what's happened:

1) We've raised $3,000 (6% of the goal), 2) 10 schools from California to Brazil want to run our program, 3) offers for in-kind help (programming, pr, news, etc), and 4) It's fun! It's spreading the word in an innovative way and I'm loving what we're doing!!

waratuman• 16 years ago

Did someone tell TechCrunch that Stanford isn't Ivy League?

noahth• 16 years ago

Enormous unspoken point in the article: masterful publicity scheme! Kudos to you dude.

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

Thank you. While I wouldn't say masterful (rather serendipitious), I'm definitely planning to write an article about it.

nowarninglabel4• 16 years ago

Hmm, looked and couldn't find a "HEY YOU" link. So, here's my proposal which I will also e-mail to you:

Create an ice sculpture in honor of PHP. Bonus donation if you also include a penguin (real or fabricated)

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

Got the email and noted the request. I'll see what I can do about the penguin!

diziet• 16 years ago

I got a "Sorry your last action could not be completed" message when I clicked the paypal!

kieftrav19• 16 years ago

From the Gumball Capital page or TC? If TC, please follow through to the Gumball Capital page and click "Make a Donation".

Does that help?

This Kid Will Do Whatever You Want in Antartica

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