Australian water advocate to run 100 marathons in 100 days

Australian ultrarunner and water advocate Mina Guli’s 2016 ultrarunning campaign to raise awareness of the global water crisis saw her run 40 desert marathons on seven continents in seven weeks, and landed her on Fortune magazine’s annual list of the 50 world’s greatest leaders, alongside Pope Francis, Jeff Bezos and Angela Merkel. Her latest project, which started with the TCS New York Marathon on November 4, is to run 100 marathons in 100 days.

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Starting with @NYCmarathon today I will be running 100 marathons in the next 100 days. Wanted to share how I'm feeling before we set off ?? #EveryDropCounts #RunningDry #TCSNYCmarathon pic.twitter.com/0zoJaoYBmx

— Mina Guli (@minaguli) November 4, 2018

In between those two quests, last year Guli challenged herself to another 40 marathons, for the same cause, this time in 40 days. 

Guli, 48, became interested in climate change through her careers in law and then finance, which took her to Washington, D.C., London and Beijing. In 2012 she launched the non-profit education program Thirst, to inform Chinese youth about water as a dwindling resource. Believing she needed to do something more radical to focus the world’s attention on the growing crisis, she launched her ultrarunning campaign.

While this journey is not easy, knowing I have a network of support around the world motivates me everyday. I couldn’t do this without you! #EveryDropCounts #RunningDry pic.twitter.com/qwIiLup5xf

— Mina Guli (@minaguli) November 14, 2018

From Guli’s website: “The world is facing a projected 40 per cent shortfall between supply and demand for water by 2030–just 12 years from now. The #RunningDry campaign will see the former lawyer and investment banker travel around the world while running a marathon a day to tell some of the world’s most pressing water stories as well highlight the everyday heroes working to solve this problem.”

Guli’s current quest will see her run marathons in the U.K., France, Italy, Uzbekistan, India, Hong Kong, China, Dubai, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Australia, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, and back to the USA.