South Aftrican finishes 285-km walk from Daanbantayan to Santander

SOUTH AFRICAN Ian Benfield and his son, Mark,  finished a 285-kilometer walk-run joruney from Cebu’s northern tip to the island’s southern most town.

The Benfields completed their joruney through Cebu’s different cities and towns in seven  days from Dec.  3 to 9. They started their trip in Daanbantayan, northern Cebu and finished in Santander town, southern Cebu.

The father-and-son tandem did  this walk for charity. Their seven-day journey was made possible with the help of their friends from South Africa, who promised to donate funds to help Ian’s beneficiary, the Malabuyoc Elementary School, which is the alma mater of his Cebuana wife Clavel. Half of the raised funds was also given to Benfield’s chosen foundation in South Africa.

“I have a great love of the far east and I wanted to do a charitable thing and the challenge of walking a very long distance to help somebody would be great,” said the 64-year old Ian Benfield. His son Mark turned 36  on Dec.  3, the day they started walking from Daanbantayan. Ian truned 64 the day they finished their trip.

” It was  more of a mental challenge for me,” added Ian. “ I did not think I would finish because it is really difficult to do this kind of thing at my age and I am not a marathoner. I am just an avid runner who runs 4k a day.”

All in all, the father-and-son tandem consumed 53 hours and 56 minutes to travel from north to south Cebu.

Among the problems they encountered during the trip was typhoon Pablo but that didn’t stop them from continuing their joruney.

Joining them in some parts of the trip were his brother-in-law Jun Sumile and wife Clavel. Twenty-three students from the University of Southern Philippines Foundation also joined the walk from San Fernando town, southern Cebu until the finish line./CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL