British Couple Complete 6,200 Mile Run Across South American Run

On July 28, 2012, just as the festivities were kicking off in the London Olympic Games, British couple David & Katherine Lowrie embarked on a journey to run the length of South America from the tip of Chile northward to the Caribbean Ocean in Venezuela.

The Lowries blogged their adventure on the website 5000mileproject.org, but the actual mileage reached 6,200 miles. Why did they do it? They did it to raise funds for wildlife and nature conservation issues. The journey took them through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and finally Venezuela.

“The run has been so much tougher than we had ever imagined. Physically; pain sprang around our bodies pretty much constantly for the first three weeks in the “freezer” of Patagonia. We thought that our bodies would seize up completely in protest to the day-on-day assault. But gradually and incredibly the 20 mile daily quota, six days a week, clicked by. Millions of tiny steps later, we’re now a hair’s breadth away from the Bolivian border and everything seems so much more possible!”

Add to this the fact that the Lowries hauled a trolley that when fully loaded weighed up to 100 kg (220 lbs.); the couple took turns pulling that load. The journey has taken them nearly fifteen months to complete. It was all the way back on April 18 that the couple reached the half-way mark. The journey has been difficult. The Lowries have worn out ten pairs of running shoes each and raised £6,186 or approximately $10,000 USD.

The couple have received some encouraging words from none other than the Duke of Cambridge who stated he was impressed with their undertaking such a long journey in support of a “vital cause”.