Charity runner Artiwara "Toon" Kongmalai has achieved his target of raising 700 million baht for 11 hospitals nationwide, 16 days before he's expected to hit the finish line.
The milestone was reached in Chai Nat province on the 39th of the planned 55 days, when he had covered 68% of the planned distance of 2,191km from the southernmost district of Betong in Yala province to the northernmost Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.
He had run 1,500km and spent 270 hours on the road. Based on the schedule, he will run through 20 provinces to reach the finish on Christmas Day.
On the website kaokonlakao.com, donations had exceeded 704 million baht at 4.30pm yesterday.
After arriving in Chai Nat at 5am yesterday, the frontman of the band, Bodyslam, was welcomed by supporters along the route. The crowds co-operated well with requests from the rocker's team, who pleaded with them not to obstruct his path to avoid hurting the star.
He reached the 1,500km mark after crossing the Chao Phraya River in the central province. Toon will rest for one day today then resume the marathon tomorrow when he heads to Nakhon Sawan province using Phahon Yothin Road.
Toon began his south-north journey on Nov 1 with a target of raising 700 million baht, or 10 baht each from the 70 million people in Thailand. The donations will be given to 11 state hospitals to buy medical equipment.
In the same month last year, the rocker raised 85 million baht for Bang Saphan Hospital by running 400km from Bangkok to the hospital in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
