How's this for ballsy (I filed this one under "hiking", tho that seems to be an understatement). A couple of guys decide to do their part to help the world, in this case to bring better water conditions to Africa and Africans, and look for what would seem an impossible goal. One that would capture the attention of the world, or at least of the good folks at National Geographic, who can then help them get noticed.

Well, Kevin Lin, Ray Zahab, and Charlie Engle set out late last year to run...that's right to RUN across the entire expanse, west to east, of the Sahara Desert. Never mind that they had a big film crew with them and gobs of support, that is still a massive and jaw-dropping undertaking.

Charlie, Ray and Kevin touched the Red Sea, back in February, bringing the epic trip to an end. It lasted 111 days and took them through 6 countries: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya, and Egypt. By their own GPS log, they covered over 4,300 miles. Yow.

Of course, all these guys are hard core mega-endurance types. Engle himself, the team leader is said to be one of the best ultra distance marathon runners in the world today, And as you might expect (and as I mentioned above) there will be a film on the effort (Narrated by Matt Damon), and the Web site had got gobs of lovely info including pictures, bios and an overview of the effort. What would Lawrence of Arabia have said?

Filed under: Activism, Hiking, Festivals and Events, Podcasts, Africa, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal