Paul Farrer Runs Wild in Africa

It is not unusual for people to raise money for charity by participating in a variety of running events. Paul Farrer, Chairman of pfj, is no exception except that he ran 22 kilometres in a game reserve in Kenya.

The Safaricom Marathon is an annual event organised by Tusk Trust a charity dedicated to protecting endangered species, promoting education and community development across Africa and takes place at Lewa Downs Conservancy which is at 6,000 feet. The race starts at 7am to avoid the worst of the heat and this year 1,000 runners took part. During the event a competitor was confronted by a Black Rhino, so it is not your average fun run. The run was quite a challenge for me because I am not really the right shape for running. However I love Africa and I was privileged to see at first hand some of the projects that Tusk supports and at long last there is a formula working whereby the communities themselves are now running conservation projects to the benefit of their people, their culture and the animals - it is truly holistic.

Paul was running to raise money for Tusk Trust - www.justgiving.com/paulfarrer4tusk

The Safaricom marathon will be featured in Saving Planet Earth on BBC 1 Friday 6th July at 7pm and a dedicated documentary at 7.30pm on Monday 9th July again on BBC 1.