Want to follow Donna as she runs her 10km loop in Antarctica? A Live Tracker feature has been added to the Run Antarctica website thanks to a tracking map by ZeroSixZero. Donna starts on Friday 15th December – which is Saturday 16th December AEDT.
Anthony Lance gives us a rundown on an epic journey from Melbourne to Punta Arenas, the team’s home for two days before Antarctica!
Wow, what a first day! After a 5am wake up, Donna, Rhys and I set off for the airport at 6am for the first leg of the long haul to Punta Arenas at the southern end of Chile. The journey from Melbourne to Sydney was 1.5 hours, Sydney to Santiago was 12.5 hours, and Santiago to Punta Arenas another 3.5 hours.
All was going well until our transit through Santiago and (thankfully and amazingly) noticed our incredible Mountains Designs 120L travel bags sitting on the floor next to an empty carousel (hard to miss having nine bags we were ferrying with all the necessary items to last the month in Antarctica).
We were clearly told in Melbourne our bags would be checked all the way to Punta Arenas – not the case! This little hiccup, which could have been a disaster if we hadn’t seen them sitting there, caused us to miss the final flight leg, adding an extra six hour layover to an already long day. Tiredness at this stage was extreme. Rhys fell asleep on Donna’s shoulder, and Donna on Rhys’s. I thought it was inappropriate to borrow either shoulder, so found a massage chair and nodded off too.
In typical Donna fashion, after a full five minute catnap, she woke with the words “I feel incredible, so much better,” – and on we went.
Finally in our room in Punta Arenas, some 28 hours after leaving Melbourne, our mind shifted to getting some good sleep and adjusting to the timezone difference. Especially for Donna, getting this sleep component right early in the piece is critical.
Super interesting things
Donna is collaborating with two health professionals in Melbourne throughout her Run Antarctica world record attempt.
Dr Emma O’Brien OAM is Head of Music Therapy at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), and Head of Global Scrub Choir – and RMH and WHO collaboration. She has asked Donna to test a resource she created called Re:Me while in Antarctica. Re:Me is a specialised music and mindfulness resource for wellbeing with three interventions – Reframe Refresh Rejuvenate – which can be used with music or spoken word. We look forward to hearing more about how this toolkit works from Donna soon!
Before departing, Donna had an MRI scan of her brain.The team involved include Professor Valentina Lorenzetti and Hannah Thomson from Australian Catholic University, and A/Professor Brad Moffat and Rebecca Glarin from Melbourne Brain Centre Imaging Unit, University of Melbourne. Donna will answer some daily questions and have a scan again on her return to observe if any changes happened in her brain during the 1300km challenge!
Send a message to Donna
Donna would love to hear from you as she gets her month-long epic running journey underway. Unlike other challenges closer to home, Donna is isolated with a small support team. Let’s show her we are all cheering her on! Video or written messages of support are encouraged via Run Antarctica Facebook Messenger. This is the best way to share messages – Donna has access and will read and view messages, and the team can share your videos if you consent on our social media channels.
Don’t forget the penultimate reason Donna is doing this is to raise funds to empower females in sport. The target is $1.5 million and four charities will benefit – Danny Frawley Centre, Stars Foundation, Sport Excellence Scholarship Fund, and GAME.
