Lisa Asked: How Does It Work?
I was speaking with my good friend Lisa last night at GreenUps here in Sydney, and the conversation shifted onto the 10 City Bridge Run.
Lisa asked how did it all work. Good question. Here is my answer.
The start point would be to frame the 10 City Bridge Run: a global endurance challenge where I will run 10 sub-marathons each of 24 km in 10 cities across 10 countries within one month. The purpose is to raise awareness of an individual’s capacity to act to influence extreme poverty.
I will start running in Sydney on 14 October, and finish in Seoul on the last day of the G20 Summit 12 November.
These dates are part of a design to form a ‘bridge’ between two key institutional events: a United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals held last month in New York commencing 20 September, and the G20 Summit in Seoul starting on 10 November.
I contend that what happens in between, the engagement of people like you and I, is of the same importance.
This is about much more than just running. Each run represents the 24,000 children under the age of five who on average die every single day. While 0.1% of this figure is from the West, a staggering 50% comes from sub-Saharan Africa alone.
This is an initiative about participation. Not through running, but bridge building. I am asking people to take photographs of themselves or other people making bridges between themselves and for these to be collated and then presented to the G20 Summit leadership (President of Korea). Together can we collate 24,000 of these photographs which will be printed, curated and then delivered to the President of Korea?
Another outcome is a book that will be published in electronic and print format containing 1,000 selected photographs from those in the petition. The book has a working title of “Above the Line”, a reference to the challenge of moving people often corporately identified as ‘The Bottom Billion‘ above the line of extreme poverty.
The 10 City Bridge Run is community funded, that is to say ‘crowdfunded’, by many sponsors who each pre-purchase the book “Above the Line” enabling the running to take place, and importantly the achievement of all Six Outcomes.
Sounds difficult? The tagline for the event is “Is the seemingly impossible possible?” I don’t believe we can fully address this question without first seeing what is possible ourselves through an experiential challenge.
What I propose is possible, but it requires the participation of others. Will you join me vicariously on the run as a sponsor? Sponsorship is $240 for a printed copy of the book or $24 for a electronic copy of the book.
Please be part of the difference that makes a difference and sponsor the 10 City Bridge Run.
Building Bridges 