Athlete from South Africa shows the way

CHENNAI: David Grier, an extreme athlete from South Africa, has successfully completed the ‘Miles for Smiles India Challenge’. The journey which David begun last November is a non-stop running on foot, starting at the Shankaracharya temple in Srinagar to the temple of Kanyakumari located at the southern tip. Beginning the run from Srinagar, he ran through the deserts and jungles of Western India, and reached the southern shore within 93 days. David completed the challenge of running from Kashmir to Kanyakumari covering a distance of over 4,000 km.This is an initiative from ‘Miles for Smiles India Challenge’, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing free life-changing surgeries to those born with cleft and other facial deformities. David, an ambassador of the foundation accepts these extreme challenges to make a difference in the lives of these kids. Thus, his attempts in the past have resulted in him setting a remarkable record of winning two World’s first runs – the 4,200 km Great Wall of China run in 2006 and the 3,300 km Southern African Coastline run in 2008. He is globally recognised as an inspirational figure defying all boundaries of human limitations. Addressing a press conference in Chennai, David said, “While I took up the India Challenge to support a cause like cleft surgery, my important aim was also to drive asthma awareness in India by supporting a public service initiative from Cipla like Breathefree. Being an asthmatic since childhood, I believe that if I am able to accomplish the extreme challenges despite having asthma, then other asthmatics can also do the same. Asthma is not a barrier for those who want to pursue a career in sports. All one needs to know is that you can also keep your asthma under control by strictly adhering to the prescribed dose of regular inhalers for years and attain the highest levels of fitness like me.”