Lisbon– Friday 28 September
Run the World – 10km in every country on the planet
Donate to Cancer Research
PRESS RELEASE
The British Embassy have asked us to share this great initiative.
Dan Thompson will be completing seven 10km runs in the West Africa and Portugal in September 2018 as part of his Run the World Challenge. Dan has previously run in 149 countries in Africa, South-East Asia, North, Central and South America, Europe, Central and South Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Middle East.
Run the World is an extraordinary challenge that has been created by Dan, a British businessman and sports enthusiast, who has undertaken to run 10km in every country in the world – a total of 206 countries – by the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Following the recent death of his mother from cancer, Dan is doing the challenge to raise money for cancer research and to promote the benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle.
Dan will be running in :
- Lagos (Nigeria) – Thursday 20 September (morning)
- Libreville (Gabon) – Friday 21 September (morning)
- Kinshasa (DR Congo) – Saturday 22 September
- Brazzaville (Republic of Congo) – Sunday 23 September
- Luanda (Angola) – Tuesday 25 September
- Sao Tome (Sao Tome and Principe) – Thursday 27 September
- Lisbon (Portugal) – Friday 28 September
Dan commented, “I’m very much looking forward to running in West Africa and Portugal and I hope that as many people as possible will join me on the runs. I’d like to stress that everyone is welcome to take part – irrespective of their level of fitness or running speed. Participants are also welcome to run part of the way, join in on bike or just come along and support the runners!”
Dan added, “Cancer rates are on the increase across the world and, in some countries, it is now projected that 50% – half of us – will get cancer. That’s a terrifying statistic.
“The good news is that cancer treatments and survival rates are improving as we continue to invest in research. The other good news is that lifestyle changes could prevent 4 in 10 cancers. An active, healthy lifestyle also substantially reduces the risk of a range of other illnesses including heart disease, diabetes, dementia and depression.
“I hope that, by running round the world, I’ll not only raise a lot of money for cancer research but I’ll also help increase awareness of the huge benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle.”
Claire Cullen, Senior Local Fundraising Manager for Cancer Research UK said, “When I heard about Dan’s challenge, I was hugely impressed with his incredible mission to run 10K in every Olympic country in the world to fundraise for us. Cancer Research UK don’t receive any government funding so it’s inspirational individuals like Dan that help to fund our ground-breaking research, raising money to beat cancer sooner.”
Please contact Denise Williams at denise@run-the-world.org if you are interested in joining or supporting any of the runs or would like to know more about the Run the World School talks.
More information about Run the World can be found on its blog and website ; please visit www.justgiving.com/Dan-Thompson11 if you would like to donate to Cancer Research.
Run the World
Run the World is an extraordinary challenge that has been created by Dan Thompson, a British businessman and sports enthusiast, who has undertaken to run 10km in every country in the world – a total of 206 countries – by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Following the recent death of his mother from cancer, Dan is doing the challenge to raise money for cancer research and to promote the benefits of an active, healthy lifestyle.
Dan has completed 149 runs in Africa, South-East Asia, North, Central & South America, Europe, South Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Middle East. The Run the World Challenge follows on from Dan’s 2012 Olympic Challenge which saw him undertake every different Olympic and Paralympic event – 114 events in total including show jumping, the 10m high dive, white water canoeing, 10km open water swim, 150km road cycle, 50km walk, the marathon and the pole vault.
You can follow Run the World on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and on its Blog.
Dan’s Biog
After a career in music, video games and the internet, Dan founded Gold Challenge. Gold Challenge launched in late 2010 and ran an Olympic and Paralympic inspired challenge in the run up to London 2012. Gold Challenge partnered with the British Olympic Association/Team GB, Paralympics GB and Sport England and was part of the official London 2012 mass participation legacy programme. Gold Challenge also worked closely with LOCOG and hosted one of the pre-Games test events in the Olympic Stadium.
The challenge was highly successful with over 105,000 participants. More than 200 schools and 100 corporates took part including large employers such as GlaxoSmithKline, Atos, EDF, Cisco, John Lewis and Coca Cola. In excess of £1.5 million was raised for Gold Challenge’s 150 charity partners who included household names such as Cancer Research UK, Oxfam, the NSPCC and Help for Heroes.
In early 2013, Gold Challenge launched the Take12 Challenge, a healthy living challenge funded by the London Legacy Development Corporation (the body responsible for the Olympic Park post the Games). Take12 aimed to inspire people in the Olympic host boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Greenwich, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Barking & Dagenham to be more active. Focussed on in-actives, families and young people, over 15,000 people signed up for Take12. The follow-up programme – ‘Take 12 in the Park’ – encouraged people across London to take part in sport and physical activity in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
In 2014, Gold Challenge ran the 2014 Challenge – a free challenge that celebrated the 2014 Commonwealth Games and aimed to motivate people across the world to be more active, raise money for charity and become healthier and fitter.
Gold Challenge also provided the technical platform and participant support for ‘Million Miles Together’ – a healthy living, physical activity and community building programme that ran in the London Borough of Newham between October 2016 and January 2017. Over 660,000 miles of activity were logged in Newham.
In addition to the above, Gold Challenge creates and runs bespoke physical activity, healthy living and fund-raising challenges for corporates, public sector employers and charities. Over 170,000 people have taken part in these challenges.
About Cancer Research UK:
The world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research, Cancer Research UK’s groundbreaking work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives. This work is funded entirely by the public.
The charity supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.
Cancer Research UK is a world leader in discovering new cancer drugs. Through our research, we’ve contributed to the discovery or clinical trials of nearly 50 drugs now being developed. Our scientists and doctors have contributed to many of the world’s top cancer drugs including temozolomide, anastrozole and Herceptin.
Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to beat cancer.
For further information about Cancer Research UK’s work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1861 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org