Richard Donovan | |
Nationality: | Irish |
Sport: | Athletics |
Event: | Marathon |
Richard Donovan (born 1966) is an Irish runner, commercial race organizer, and sports administrator. Donovan organised and was first to complete the inaugural South Pole Marathon[1] in January 2002, then completed the first marathon-length run in the North Pole in April of that year.[2] He used the publicity from this to launch his North Pole Marathon venture, offering runners an adventure tourism experience, with the 2018 event costing €16,000.[3]
Between 30 January and 5 February 2009, Donovan claimed a worlds best for running seven marathons, on seven different continents, in fewer than seven days.[4] Starting 1 February 2012 he improved on this by completing the 7 on 7 in under 120 hours.[5]
Donovan has also completed transcontinental runs across North America in 2015 and Europe in 2016,[6] adding South America in 2017. In addition to the North Pole Marathon, he organizes a number of other commercial events.