THE icy sheets of Antarctica will be crunching under Andrew Thorpe’s running shoes in a grand plan the man they call ‘Googz’ hopes will come to fruition. 

Thorpe, 32 next week, has been formally accepted to complete not one, not two, not even three marathons; he hopes to run seven – yes, seven! – marathons on the seven – yes, all seven! – continents of the world in, wait for it… seven days! 

The body-bending seven marathons-in seven days-on seven continents concept comes under an event called The Great World Race (TGWR), which is formally recognised by the Association of International Marathons, which comes under the auspices of World Athletics (formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation). 

TGWR takes in Novo on Antarctica (basically the airport- ice runway there), the African city of Cape Town (in South Africa), Perth here in Australia, two marathons in Istanbul – because the Turkish city straddles the great continents of Asia and Europe – at Cartagena in South America (in Colombia), and in Miami in North America (in Florida of the United States), and thereby encompassing all seven…