Earth Beat, 6 April 2012. Things that are going places - from rubber duckies sailing the ocean seas for a couple of decades, to the world’s most gruelling marathon and the first man to walk around the world, we’ll take you places you’ve never been.

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The world’s toughest race - listen in new player

Dubbed the hardest race to run in the world - the Barkley Marathons live up to their name. The 100-mile course on an unmarked track through a Tennessee state park takes runners across streams and up mountains – and temperatures on the weekend that the Barkley is held fluctuate so much they can threaten heatstroke and hypothermia.

Earth Beat host Marnie Chesterton spoke to 'Frozen' Ed Furtaw, one of a handful to have ever finished, and Gary Cantrell, who organises the race, and once described it as a "sick joke". View photos.

Web extra - Barkley marathon founder Gary Cantrell explains how it differs from a normal race - listen in new player

More - Matt Mahoney's Barkley Marathons site

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Green flight - listen in new player

Mike Voorhees is the founding CEO of Skylite Aeronautics – a green airship that can carry the equivalent of ten Boeing 747 planes' worth of cargo, but costs just the equivalent of one 747 to make.

It hasn't been built yet, but Mike joins Marnie from a studio in Colorado to bring the drawing board to life. View photos.

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Moby-Duck - listen in new player

Nearly 20 years ago, a container ship crossing the north Pacific lost some of its load in a heavy storm. One of the containers that went overboard contained 28,800 bath toys – plastic ducks, frogs, beavers and turtles. And like rubber ducks in a bathtub, they floated. For years, it turns out, on the Pacific Ocean.

Marnie talks to Donovan Hohn, the author of Moby-Duck, about their journey and what he discovered. View photos.

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What we get out of going places - listen in new player

Everyone on the Earth Beat team is really well-travelled.

But what do we get out of going places? Why do we do it?

Producer Anik See has written a fair bit about that, so we asked her to adapt one of the essays in her book for us. She reads from Saudade. View photos.

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Walking round the world - listen in new player

Whoever came up with the phrase "It’s a small world" had obviously never walked around it.

Dave Kunst was 30 when he set off with his brother John on a mission to circumnavigate the globe on foot.

It took him just over four years and earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. View photos.

More - Earthwalker website

Graphic: Dave Kunst's route (rollover points for key stages)

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The Beat of Kenya - click for more information

We're looking for input from listeners for our Beat of Kenya promotion on Facebook. Can you represent Kenya with an audio or video upload? Music, dance, spoken word - whatever you do best, we want to see your originality and talent.