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An update on the London 2 Brighton Ultra Marathon and my Fundraising for Congo Calling

On Sunday May 18 I competed my last training run of the many that I had to do in preparation for attempting what should have been my first ultra-marathon. This training run, which was over the relatively small distance of 31kms / 19.5 miles, went extremely well with me completing it in good time and with relative ease. I therefore settled back that Sunday afternoon to a sense of excitement and satisfaction that all the real hard work had been completed.

However, I woke on Monday May 19 already sensing that something was not quite right. I preceded with my day as per normal. That afternoon I had to excuse myself from a meeting at work as the first signs of food poisoning started to set in. From there my health rapidly deteriorated and excitement slowly turned to dread. On Thursday I awoke to the same problems with the added discomfort of the whole of the right side of my face being incredibly painful. As things had not improved like I had hoped I sought out medical advice. From this advice I established that my dream of completing this event was over.

Naturally on Saturday May 24, the day I should have been participating, I spent the day extremely upset and thinking about where I should have been as the hours of the event unfolded. Since then my thoughts have started returning to actually how lucky and privileged my life really is. Specifically I can’t but help think about the luck I have in my life in comparison to the 2 million plus estimated people who are displaced in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo. For them food poisoning and other illness is among the myriad of constant concerns that in my privileged existence I do not have to worry about. So while a part of me will always wonder about what should have been, I now concentrate on making sure that I do not take the privilege I have for granted.

To this end as I did not get the opportunity to run in the London 2 Brighton on behalf of Congo Calling I have decided that I will run my next event for them instead. That is as so many people have donated so generously to Congo Calling through sponsoring my London 2 Brighton run I am going to run my next event to honour these donations. The next event will be the Gold Coast Marathon in Australia on Sunday July 6. This will be over 42km / 26 miles instead of 100km / 61 miles but will still focus my mind throughout the run of the necessity of supporting Congo Calling in working towards a situation where all the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo can live safe, meaningful and productive lives without fear of war, torture or displacement that characterises many of their lives today.

 

 

As part of running the London to Brighton Ultra Marathon (100km or approximately 61 miles for my imperial friends) I am delighted to have the honour to raise money for a charity that is tackling an issue that relates to all of us; Congo Calling:

http://www.congocalling.org/

It is estimated that many electronic devices contain minerals that originate from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC is blessed with having many natural resources; along with an abundance of minerals they also have the second largest rainforest in the world and the largest population of mountain gorillas. However, these same natural resources have brought much misery on the local population. The DRC’s long running civil war has resulted in many armed militias who finance their operations through the illegal trade of minerals. They use intimidation and violence on the innocent people of the DRC to force them to mine these minerals in extremely dangerous conditions. These minerals are then illegally smuggled out of the DRC and end up in the supply chains that are fuelled by our increasing demand for technology. Hence Congo Calling strives to put pressure on electronic manufacturers to take ownership of their supply chains and thereby become accountable for the source of the very minerals that are essential to their products. By promoting conflict free minerals Congo Calling is hoping to remove the source of funding from these armed militias that they use to prolong the devastating civil war.

So please help me raise money for this worthy cause. After all we derive so much benefit from this technology and we therefore should try and ensure that others do not undergo such suffering at our expense. Beyond helping me support Congo Calling could I also please ask you all to use your consumer power to demand conflict mineral free electronic products.

I would like to thank you all so much for your support. The details of the event that I am participating in can be found at:

http://www.london2brightonchallenge.com/

 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

I will of course post how I get on.

Thank you all,

Stephen