The Virgin Islands Pace Runners have announced that Dan Thompson’s “Run the World Challenge” came to St. Croix on Tuesday, Nov. 14. Thompson, who is from Great Britain, is currently attempting to run 10K in every country in the world. To date he has run in 128 countries out of a total of 206, and he is hoping that as many people as possible will join him on each leg of his challenge.
Original plans for the St. Croix challenge had Dan running with V.I. runners in the V.I. 10K Championships, but hurricanes Irma and Maria put those plans to rest. As it was, he landed on St. Croix on Tuesday afternoon on the 3:44 p.m. flight, was hustled to the start at Arawak Bay Inn at Salt River and the Virgin Islands National 10K Championship Course on North Shore Road. Billy Bohlke, V.I. long distance record holder, and Nyan Bansal, a Good Hope Country Day School runner, accompanied Dan on the run, which started at 5 p.m., proceeded to the Lavalle turn around and finish at the start point.
The St Croix leg of the “Run the World Challenge” was organized by Wallace Williams, founder/president of the V.I.Pace Runners. “I’m pleased that the run went well; the weather wasn’t as hot as anticipated because jumping off a flight from England and the cold to the subtropics of the V.I. to do an endurance event can be rough. There was a tail wind going west and a head wind coming back, making it quite pleasant, and they finished just before it got dark. Dan had to leave for San Juan for his next 10K on Wednesday, then to Santo Domingo for Thursday and Friday it’s on to Haiti. Check out his blog and get first-hand accounts of each of his runs.”
Thompson is doing the challenge to raise money for cancer research, following the recent death of his mother from cancer, and to promote the benefits of an active and healthy lifestyle in the fight against cancer. Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research; its pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives around the world.
Fundraising
There is absolutely no obligation to donate, but if anyone would like to donate to Cancer Research at any stage, they can either donate cash at each run or directly on Dan Thompson’s JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Dan-Thompson11. He will collect any cash donated at the run and put it through his Justgiving page so that everyone can see where their donation has gone.
Thompson also brings along some Run the World T-shirts to the run, and anyone making a donation of $20 or more will be more than welcome to help themselves to one. (100 percent of all T-shirt ‘sales’ or donations will also go to Cancer Research via his JustGiving page.)
As mentioned, Thompson has chosen to fundraise for Cancer Research UK partly because his mother died from cancer in 2013, partly because cancer is such an enormous global concern, and partly because it does world-leading research that benefits people everywhere.
To make a donation:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Dan-Thompson11
To keep in touch with Run the World, follow on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/RunTheWorldChallenge
Follow on Twitter – https://twitter.com/DTRuntheWorld
Follow the Blog – https://dansgoldchallenge.wordpress.com/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/danruntheworld/
For information about the St. Croix Run email: wallacewiliams@msn.com or call: 643-2557
For any further information about Run the World, email denise@denisewilliams-vpa.com