On 23rd. October 2005, the first fully documented run around the world was completed - the World Run. During this run, some ultrarunners met up and decided that it could be interesting to go for the ultimate longest distance in the history of distance running - a run from the North to the South and back. This time not it would be the goal of a single runner but of a group of international runners: World Run 2: The North - South Run !
And also to prove that the ability to overcome such a long run is not merely the quality of one runner but an ability that we all have in common as humans !
The North - South Run aims to complete a distance of 40,000 km, thus making it the world’s longest fully gps-documented run by far. A journey from top to bottom of the globe and back, running across 4 continents, multiple cultures, natural environments and a huge range of temperatures and terrain.
In so doing, testing the endurance and furthest limits of the equipment and exploring the strength and mental limits of the human long distance runner.
The route takes its beginning at the northernmost point in Europe, Nordkapp in Norway and continues down to the southernmost tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas in South Africa. The route back north starts out from Punta Arenas at the southern tip of South America and leads to Newfoundland in Canada, at the north-western tip of the North American continent.
The previous longest fully documented run was completed by one of the members of the North - South Run group, Jesper Olsen. Many of the people in the organisation dealing with various logistics are the same, thus enhancing the chances of success by using the know-how gathered during the 26,232km of the World Run from 1.1.2004 to 23.11.2005.
Some of the runners may try to complete this run non-stop during the 800 days of the run - while others may choose to make use of the monthly rest-day to actually "rest".
During the run there will be live tracking by gps - enabling web-spectators to follow in the footsteps of the runners live on the website map, along with daily gps-located pictures, video-clips and a short text report from the runners. On a weekly basis, "World Run Radio" will be broadcast live on this website from the roads of the world.
Local runners and ultrarunners are encouraged and welcome to take part in the stages of the run and thus also become part of the World Run 2 ! We will enjoy the company very much and will try to give a 'runners perspective' of the world, its countries and continents :-)
This is not a political run, but a celebration of the Earth and the possibilities it gives when difficulties are overcome !
When Jesper visited the Fat Asses in Vancouver...
Jesper Olsen is a 33 year old man from Copenhagen, Denmark. On 1 January 2004, he set off from Greenwich, England in an attempt to be the first documented person to run around the world. His website is at: http://www.worldrun.org/. (Be sure to read his daily reports!)
After running for 16 months, Jesper arrived in Canada on Friday 15 April 2005. Some local ultramarathon runners hosted him for a few days as he paused to compete in the Vancouver Sun Run and take one of 14 scheduled days off during his 2 year world run attempt. At an informal pot luck dinner, Jesper learned what it meant to "sing for your supper" and shared his inspiring story.
In brief, Jesper tries to run an average of 50-kilomteres every day. He wants to make it home to Copenhagen for Christmas. He plans to end the North American leg of his trip in New York. He has budgeted roughly 90 days to cross Canada by the most direct way possible. While he has become quite accustomed to running alone, sleeping in ditches and eating cold spaghetti from a can, he confided in us that he'd sure love some company, the occasional home-cooked meal and a clean, dry bed from time to time.
He obtained the commitment from all present that they would do whatever they could to make his cross-Canada leg memorable. Some photos from the evening are at: www.flickr.com/photos/37954136@N00/sets/240084/
