A Portuguese woman is going to run a full ultra-marathon in a bid to raise $1 million for the education of poor children in Bangladesh, reports Times of Oman.
Maria Conceicao will run a full ultra-marathon every weekend for seven weeks - one on each of the seven continents of the world - across 48 days.
“My aim is simple - to raise $1 million and draw global attention to my Maria Cristina Foundation's (MCF), pioneering work which has been to break the vicious cycle of poverty in Bangladesh by helping the impoverished to live up to their maximum potential."
"Running these seven ultra-marathons is going to be the toughest challenge I have ever taken on, but that is nothing compared to the daily struggle our kids face on the streets of Dhaka,” Maria said.
Having started in Antarctica on January 26 this year and then proceeding to South America, she will reach Wadi Bih in Oman on Friday as part of her Asia trip.
Completing her ultra-marathon run after covering Europe, Australia, North America and Africa in March, Maria will be the fastest woman athlete to complete an ultra-marathon on each continent with the fastest aggregate time.
For the past nine years, MCF has nurtured and fostered hundreds of young boys and girls who have shown tremendous potential to pursue higher education.
Maria has already scaled Mount Everest, trekked to the North Pole, climbed atop Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro, and won over summit Denali as part of her efforts to gain support for her charity.