Thursday, February 20, 2003

The Newsletter 
Belfast, Ulster

Plucky Polly walks world for charity
By Leslie Walsh

A slight American woman arrived in Belfast yesterday with a global-sized adventure on her plate and a humanitarian mission on her mind.

Polly Letofsky, a 40-year-old woman from Minnesota, is walking around the world to raise funds for breast cancer research and will be carrying out the Irish leg of her amazing journey over the coming weeks.

The trip was a realisation of a childhood dream, set in motion when she became touched by the plight of friends and family struck down by breast cancer.

Having already clocked up thousands of miles in dozens of countries across four continents, Polly left Scotland yesterday on a ferry bound for Belfast.

This is the fourth year of her epic journey and Polly will be walking for another year and a half before returning home in the summer of 2004.

As she was greeted in Belfast by members of Newtownbreda Lions Club, she bade farewell to their colleagues from Stranraer who helped raise 80(English pounds) from the 90 passengers on board the ferry.

Polly began her five -year marathon trek from Vail in Colorado, way back in 1999, and has already walked about 10,000 miles--5,000 short of the estimated total.

Carrying a baby buggy transformed into a "backpack on wheels" by outdoor pursuit company North Face, Polly has already collected dozens of souvenir badges from far flung places.

She walks on average 16 miles a day which can take anywhere from four to 10 hours.

"I've gone through 22 pairs of trainers and this my 23rd pair," she said.

Her hardy New Balance shoes have already taken her from America, through New Zealand and Australia and across Asia, through Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Turkey.

Moving west, she continued through Europe, taking in Greece, Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium and Holland before making her way to the British isles.

Polly walks through rain, hail or shine.

"I've even been through a 7.2 earthquake, major flooding, forest fires and lightening storms," she said.

With a career background which includes broadcasting, the brave woman hopes to write a book about her experiences when she returns to home soil on or around August 1, 2004.

Starting in England, Polly ventured north to Wales and Scotland, before hitting the Emerald Isle.  

And yesterday, she was very pleased to have reach Ulster.

"I'm just so delighted to be here.  I really am excited about being here and I love the accent.

"I've had my first taste of Guinness too."

Asked about her opinion of the black stuff she admitted, like most first timers, "the jury's still out on that one."

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