Former Marlins President DAVID SAMSON yesterday completed the World Marathon Challenge, an "event of seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive days," according to Dave Hyde of the South Florida SUN SENTINEL. Samson "assembled a 16-member team" for the event that "stretched limits" and raised more than $1M for 11 charities. Fifty-three runners in all "paid $44,000 each for the round-the-world airplane charter, meals and occasional hotels." Participants "started seven days ago running on a five-mile loop around a Russian air base in Antarctica." Less than 12 hours after finishing in Antarctica, they were "running in the 80-degree heat of Cape Town, South Africa." Then they were off to Perth, Australia, Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Lisbon, Portugal. The sixth leg ended yesterday in Cartagena, Columbia at 3:00am. Their plane landed in Miami at 11:00am and by 2:00pm, they were "lining up for the start" of the final leg. That course was a "five-mile loop beside the Atlantic Ocean." Some "cry after completing 184 miles of running." Samson said, “I was thinking in the last mile what didn’t hurt on my body, and the only thing I could come up with was my eyelashes." He added, “Everyone said we were completely insane to do this, and now I think we are completely insane” (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 2/6). In Miami, Greg Cote writes even the "most critical of Marlins fans" or former Owner JEFFREY LORIA/Samson haters "might be hard-pressed to conjure anything but admiration for the weeklong challenge Samson and his new team completed." The team included Marlins President of Baseball Operations MICHAEL HILL and former Marlins player and broadcaster JEFF CONINE. With Spring Training looming, Hill "conducted team business by cellphone while on the odyssey" (MIAMI HERALD, 2/6).
