Lynne Mowbray |

MaraTHONG man Ben Ferris from Kyogle passed through the Clarence Valley last week during his run around Australia in thongs, to raise money for our drought affected farmers.

Ben said that he set off on his journey three weeks ago from the Sydney Opera House.

“I’m heading up to Cairns then around the country, but if I can get a support car by Cairns I’m more than happy to go up to Cape York and try and cover all four farthest points (of the country); no one’s ever done that before,” Ben said.

“At the moment I’m covering around 50 kilometres a day and out west I’ll be doing up to 80 to 100 kilometres a day, pushing 80 kilos in my trolley.

“I’ve currently raised about $2,500 in just over three weeks now.

“I’m looking at my run around Australia in thongs to take around a year to complete the ‘Big Aussie Thong Run’ – Australia’s longest thong run.

“It’s a very important topic at the moment, helping out our farmers, because that’s where all our food comes from.

“The whole way around Australia I’m planting a native tree and a fruit tree in every capital city and major town to help with the sustainable future for our kids and help give back to the planet and the community,” he said.

So far Ben has had a lot of media coverage on the national breakfast programs and is hoping that ‘Macca’ (Ian McNamara – ABC’s Australia All Over) might take an interest and catch up with him every 1000 kilometres or so to see how he’s doing to help track his progress.

Ben said that his social media page is called ‘Run Ferris Run’ on Instagram or Facebook and there is a donation link there for the ‘Drought Angels Foundation’.