For Mina Guli, running 40 desert marathons in 7 weeks is just a means to an end: raising awareness of world water crisis
Told she’d never run again after a serious accident, Australian defied doctors to compete in Ironman event. Now she braves searing temperatures, harsh terrain and stinky clothes to raise awareness of our need to conserve water
She has run 40 marathons in seven deserts, across seven continents, all in seven weeks. But Mina Guli is adamant she is “not a runner”.
“Running is simply a vehicle,” she says. “There are a lot of similarities between running long distances and solving big problems. We think it’s impossible, but when we break it down, solutions become achievable.”
And 46-year-old Guli has a big problem on her hands. She has made it her life’s mission to raise awareness of the world’s water crisis, ranked as the single biggest threat facing the planet over the next decade by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
In 2017, to help raise awareness of the UN’s No 6 Global Goal out of 17 – clean water and sanitation for all – Guli has taken on a new challenge: running down six dry rivers on six continents in six weeks. She calls it “six for six”.
It follows her feat earlier this year, whereby she completed the 7 Deserts Challenge and the last of her 40 consecutive marathons on World Water Day on March 22.
