India Challenge

It has begun. The next in the series of Epic adventures, is a run across India from Srinagar in the North, starting at the Shankaracharya Temple, to the Temple of Kanniyakumari on the Southern tip. The estimated total distance of this run will be over 4000km.

It started in the winter of 2011 in the foothills of the Himalayas at temperatures of below -10. After experiencing 3 months of Monsoon rains in Madagascar, David had to push hard to reach the end before April in order to miss the monsoon season. The journey took David through 6 provinces and many different climatic conditions, including the dessert in the SW.

Date: March 2012
The Challenge: Run the length of India North to South non-stop
The Result: Mission Accomplished

In October 2011, extreme athlete David Grier and his support team, Nick Heygate and Andrew Stuart accepted the Cipla Miles for Smiles Foundation challenge: to run the length of India in one attempt. It had never been done before and was deemed in a way madness, yet in just over three months he has once again achieved the seemingly unattainable goal having run, climbed and in cases, crawled his way across treacherous and weather-battered terrain and into the record books by becoming one of the first people to run the length of India from the most northern temple in Srinagar to the most southern temple in Kanyakamari. A journey riddled with problems, sickness, hospitalisation and military arrests, David finally reached the Southern tip of India after completing the run of 4008km in 93 Days

He didn’t do it ‘just because it was there’, as is often the case.

His mission was to raise funds and to create awareness for international non-profit organization Operation Smile to perform reconstructive facial surgeries on underprivileged South African children.

“My other motivation behind the run, being an asthmatic was to show children suffering from asthma, as well as other youngsters, including our own, that everyone can do anything if they put their mind to it, The only limitations we impose on ourselves are those in our minds. My thanks go out to all who have stood by us and supported us, and the children, in this arduous expedition.”

“Thank you India for giving me the opportunity to realise a dream”