National pride and outrage over marathon girl's epic run

With her proud, ambitious father urging her on, eight-year-old Zhang Huimin is making a marathon run from Sanya on Hainan island to Beijing, an epic journey of 4,200km.

The sight of this little girl padding along the roadways of central China has stirred hearts and prompted outrage in a country feverish with Olympic spirit as the one-year countdown to the Beijing Games begins. 'We've arrived in Que county in Henan province now and we have 70 per cent of the project behind us,' said her father, Zhang Jianmin, a farmer from Linggao, near Sanya.

The marathon of marathons has exercised commentators on the mainland. Is this an admirable form of national pride and Olympic spirit, or is this patriotism and parental ambition gone mad?

Huimin stands 125cm tall and weighs in at just under 21kg, a little more than the luggage allowance for economy airline passengers. She looks like she might blow away in a strong wind, but her endurance is astonishing.

The images of this little runner are startling, clad in her pink Disney tracksuit as she accompanies a group of adult runners in a quick photo opportunity in a southern village, or wearing her singlet as she runs and runs. The journey is 2,500km in a straight line, but much longer on the road.

She causes quite a stir wherever she goes, with a mixed response. Some onlookers praise her national fervour, while others think the girl is too young to take on such a task.