RUNNING WATER

There's a global water crisis. Mina Guli wants to draw attention to it - by running over 600km a month.

- RYAN SCOTT

Marathons are tough. Multi-day races are tougher. But for some people, like water advocate Mina Guli, that's just the beginning.

In the lead-up to the United Nations Water Summit next year, Guli is grabbing the opportunity to give voice to the water crisis sweeping the world, and Africa in particular. Her RUN BLUE campaign inspires companies and connects people to take meaningful action on water in the lead-up to the first global United Nations (UN) water conference in almost 50 years, in New York on World Water Day, 22 March 2023.

And how is she going to do it? By completing 200 marathons in the year-long journey to the conference, mobilise 200 companies to commit to concrete action on water, and mobilise people across 200 countries and territories around the world.

In doing so, she feels, they can put water at the top of the agenda; and demonstrate to all those meeting -whether they're corporate executives, or in the halls of power of government - that we can no longer afford to ignore this incredibly urgent crisis facing everyone on the planet.

"The first time I started running [for change] was in 2016, when I did my first expedition - across seven deserts on seven continents in seven weeks. And that was a massive introduction to properly running long distances over multiple days.

"Thereafter, in 2016/17, I ran 40 marathons in 40 days, and six of the world's great rivers. And then in 2018, I set out to run 100 marathons in 100 days, for the Running Dry campaign. So I've run across some pretty extreme environments; from Antarctica to the Atacama Desert, and down rivers like the Nile and the Amazon.

"But this is the first time I've tried to do something that's so big, and over such an extended period of time. There's a whole new set of challenges."