Irishman runs fastest-ever mile at the North Pole
+THIS VIDEO HAS BEEN BLEEPED FOR SWEARING+
Ireland's Paul Robinson made a quick visit to North Pole last week, at the request of the organisers of the North Pole marathon, to attempt a very different record.
The elite miler is no stranger to the mile distance (1.609km) having previously run a 3:51:1 at the 2014 Fifth Avenue Mile in New York. He has now with his sights set on qualifying for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.
On April 15, Robinson lined up for a straight one-mile run, with the course having been checked by global positioning equipment.
The conditions were perfect, blue skies and very little wind. Braving the temperature of minus 33 degrees Celsius (minus four Fahrenheit), Robinson ran the distance in four minutes and 50.95 seconds, which organizers say must be the fastest mile ever run on the continent.
In his attempt, he suffered frost damage to his right ear, which can be seen in the video footage.
He was technically running on water, a drifting ice floe on the Arctic Ocean near the Geographic North Pole. He said it was the hardest mile he has ever run. Paul had previously run 4:17.9 in Antarctica in November 2017 - making Robinson the fastest mile runner at both poles.
Despite his pace, Robinson - or for that matter no other human - could outrun a polar bear over the same distance.
They can cover it in three minutes!
The International Association of Athletics Federations lists Morocco's Hicham el Guerrouj as the record-holder for the mile distance in a time of 3:43:13, set in Rome 1999.
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