During the run around the world things have rarely gone as first planned. Thankfully though, I have always managed to come up with a plan B, C or even D! Unseasonably warm weather in the Mojave Desert, the hottest Australian summer on record, a military coup in Turkey, Chappie (my buggy which allows self supporting travel) seized by Serbian customs and a mileage deficit on every continent I’ve ran across so far are just some of the situations I’ve had to contend with. Thankfully, I’ve always managed to get to the finish line across five world stages, attracting the kindness and generosity of thousands of people. Perhaps the journey would not have been half as exciting and, more importantly, the charity total not been so high, if things had actually gone smoothly and to plan.
The window for stage six of the run around the world was summer 2021. That is a 2100 mile route from Kiev, Ukraine, across Russia and finishing up in Nur Sultan (formerly known as Astana) in Kazakhstan. I selected the time slot for that stage a full 3 years in advance. Sadly, the pandemic put paid to that plan. With the current invasion of Ukraine by the Russians, goodness knows when that stage will happen. That is, of course, insignificant when I think of the death, destruction, suffering and displacement being seen in Ukraine. The kind Ukrainians that I met when I ran across the country in 2018 are in my daily thoughts as is the country as a whole.
A total of 9,799 miles have been ran around the world so far across 16 countries with £340,000 raised for charities in the north east of England. The ultimate goal of running all the way around the world raising at least half a million pounds for good causes is very much an achievable one. The dream is very much alive.
With pandemics, wars, work and family responsibilities and the football season there is plenty to consider. Not only are the metaphorical goalposts constantly moving, the entire pitch is being lifted from one stadium to another!
For the benefit of new readers, the run around the world has so far seen 874 miles ran in the UK from John O’Groats to Lands End, 3,100 miles ran across the USA from California to New York, 2,384 miles across Australia ran from Perth to Shellharbour, 2,633 across Western Europe from Lisbon to Belgrade and 808 miles across Eastern Europe from Belgrade to Kiev.
In terms of what is still left to run, there are 5,600 miles from Kiev to Nur Sultan then onto Shanghai. It's around about the same distance as the route across the USA and Australia put together. That section will see that continent well and truly done! It's a daunting task.There is also Japan from South to North and finally New Zealand from North to South still to complete.
I think the order that I tackle the remaining stages is unclear at present as is the timeframe in which I could run them. There are a few options and permutations, however. If I assume for now that the next time-slot available to me to run is 2024, then I believe the current uncertainty that war brings rules out the stage from Kiev to Nur Sultan. I also believe it rules out any new start line in Russia to Nur Sultan for that matter. That is, if I was to consider changing it that way and coming back to complete a run across the final miles of Ukraine at a later date.
Another option is the possibility of an unsupported stage from Nur Sultan to Shanghai. Thankfully, I have Chappie, my trusty buggy, at my disposal for that. Chappie, of course, is the 70kg “accommodation” on three wheels that I first used on the stage from Belgrade to Kiev. It was thanks to the generosity of the very kind folk at Chapman Ventilation who paid for “his” production. Hence, the name “Chappie” seemed an obvious one.
Chappie, for those new readers, has a carbon fibre body with a steel chassis supported by three wheels. It is pulled along like a sled as I run. I’m attached to it via a standard snow sled harness actually. As well as containing my food, water and other kit Chappie has a solar panel. This means I can charge my phone, laptop, GPS watch and any other small electrical equipment. After I finish a day’s running I simply climb inside and it’s the perfect size for a good night’s sleep. I’ve used Chappie in temperatures ranging from -9 celcius to 32 celcius. Chappie has given a really good level of comfort and protection in all kinds of hail, rain, snow and storms.
Running the miles between Kiev and Shanghai without Chappie is not an option.
Unlike the first four world stages, it would not be financially viable to have a support team. Can you imagine driving a motor home/van or heaven forbid a car across Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China? I know that I can’t. Logistics, safety and cost make it virtually impossible.
Away from the Eurasian continent, what is left is running “up” Japan and “down” New Zealand. Those are two stages where using a support team of volunteers would indeed be possible. In fact, I have received interest from various people over recent years about supporting those stages. Although, I think that Chappie would attract a lot of local good interest in Japan in particular. Ultimately, what has to be weighed up are the costs of getting Chappie to these far flung places versus having a support vehicle. I’ll state again, that using Chappie from Kiev to Shanghai is my only viable option.
As you can see, the options, the permutations, the training requirements and the overall logistics are now very challenging. That is, if they weren’t already after almost 10,000 miles of running around the world. One thing is for sure. I’m just as determined now, if not more, as I was when I set off from on mile one from John O’Groats with the charity total sitting at £10,000. Having attracted generosity to the tune of £340,000 some years later, is beyond my wildest imagination. That’s an incredible amount of kindness which has benefitted The Children's Foundation, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, Useful Vision and St Benedict's Hospice.
None of what has been achieved so far would have been possible without the incredibly kind support that I’ve talked about so many times before.
While costs for the first two world stages came out of my own pocket, the remaining stages' costs have been paid with commercial backing. I felt after stage two, across the USA, with the overall charity total hitting £156,000, that I owed it to local charities to continue to raise funds by running across huge continents. I couldn’t finance this myself but I’m glad to report that an additional £184,000 has been raised since then thanks to the backing of generous companies such as Chapman Ventilation, SOS Group, Benfield, Active Edge, Virgin Money and FFG to name but a few.
Gaining further commercial backing in the future is imperative to ensuring that the journey around the world continues. There will then be an excellent chance of being able to attract the continued generosity of the general public with donations into St Benedict's Hospice. It’s a simple process when you think about it in those terms. Commercial backing gives me a platform to run these incredibly tough distances in far flung places helping to capture the public’s imagination which in turn helps get much needed funds into St Benedict's Hospice and similar good causes in the region.
With 2024 pencilled in for the next, as yet, undetermined stage the question is “what are the next steps?”. There are three aspects on which I’ll be focussing on in the near term. Firstly, getting into good physical condition is a must. I’ve yet to start any stage in anywhere near perfect condition and always improve as the miles and weeks tick by. I’ll be 53 in 2024 and I won’t get the next stage “signed off” unless I’m physically at my best. That will take an effort similar to the years before the run across the USA (up until I broke my ankle riding my bike that is). I lived, breathed and slept running. I actually feel that I out trained a bad diet for a good 18 months. After the accident, I continued to eat at the same poor level, in terms of quantity and quality, but couldn’t achieve the same volume of training. That resulted in me being very heavy as I set off from California in May 2011. It took a good six weeks or so to get down to a decent weight. Of course, by the time I reached the finish line in New York I was in the best condition of my adult life.
The next key ingredient is to get adequate commercial backing. By that I mean enough to cover the costs of the stage and go some way to benefitting the charity total. It may be that the pandemic and other global factors may limit the commercial opportunities. That said, I’m hopeful of finding a group of generous businesses who will be able to back the next world stage.
Finally, I’ve always been a firm believer in taking people on the journey with me. Not literally of course. I’m referring to the content that I’ve put out on www.rungeordierun.com and the Run Geordie Run Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. Daily blogs, photos and the odd uploaded video have helped enormously to get the funds in. I think the final area to be added is YouTube. Producing a brief, engaging, informative and inspiring film on a regular basis versus writing a blog post require a completely different set of skills. It remains to be seen whether or not I’m up to that challenge but I’ve started giving thought as to how I can best go about it. I expect a “soft launch” of content in the not too distant future.
So that’s where I currently am in terms of the run around the world. There are certain things in my control and also things that aren’t. I will be doing my best with a pencilled in 2024 event in mind.
I’ll close with a reminder as to why I’ve chosen to run 20,000 miles around the world raising funds for local good causes. Regular readers will know that I owe a debt of gratitude to St Benedict's Hospice for the care that they gave my Mam. (Margery) during her final days battling cancer. It is in her memory as well as my Dad (Terry) and brother’s (David) too.
Something positive has to come from this personal loss and I’m beyond grateful that it has and continues to do so. If you’re reading this, then there is a good chance that you have backed my running over previous years. For that, I can’t thank you enough. The kindness and generosity shown by so many people is never lost on me. It’s something that I will never take for granted.
That’s all for now and well done for making it this far. There was a lot to talk about. There is a lot to do.
