About R4T
Run for Tomorrow is a continuous relay-style run around the world by a team of experienced marathon runners. Each member of the team runs a marathon distance (26.2 miles/ 42.2 km) and passes the baton to the next runner. Through more than 30 countries and for 200 days, the baton never stops moving.
The overall goal of R4T is to improve the health and well-being of individuals around the world. R4T seeks to:
- Educate children and adults about the importance of healthy living and exercise, and
- Encourage and inspire them to commit to making positive changes in their own lives.
- Raise awareness and support for people with diabetes, heart and stroke conditions and those who are in poverty.
In the developed world there has been a continual trend towards people leading sedentary lifestyles and consuming larger amounts of non-healthful foods. In the last thirty years, for example, the obesity rate for American adults has doubled, while the rate for children has tripled.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are over one billion overweight adults in the world, of which over 300 million are obese. In 1997 the WHO formally stated that obesity is a global problem that has reached epidemic proportions. Being overweight is a major risk factor for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, and some forms of cancer.
What will R4T be doing?
R4T is a continuous relay-style run around the world by a 10-person team of elite marathon runners, each of whom will run the marathon distance each day. The team will be integrated with local runners and celebrities from the areas through which R4T passes. As it continues through different locations around the world, the core team will raise awareness of the R4T cause and mobilise activities in various individuals and organizations.
Each day, the team will cover approximately 120 miles as the runners continuously pass the ‘Commitment Scroll’ to one another (through night and day). The Commitment Scroll will list the names of people who either have committed money to the R4T goal or have committed volunteer time to provide support to one of our affiliated charities.
When people sign the Commitment Scroll they also make a public commitment to do a physical activity of their choice, the goal of which is to improve their own health and wellbeing. R4T also has a ‘Virtual Commitment Scroll’ – people sign-on to the scroll on this R4T website, state their level of commitment to their own health, and the extent to which they will support the respective charities.
Over the next few months we’ll be loading information to this website that will help people and organizations get up and get moving. We will provide tools, templates, educational material and other resources to help everyone get active.
We will also be loading more information about the precise route of the Run for Tomorrow run. We can tell you at this point that it will start in Ottawa, Canada in April, 2014 and finish back in Ottawa a few months later. And we’ll provide updates of some of the personalities and celebrities who are getting behind the run.
So please bookmark this site and return frequently! And if you’d like updates through social media tools please give us your contact information!
And if you want to volunteer and contribute to what we think will be an exciting world-changing cause, please let us know!!
Malcolm Anderson, Founder & Executive Director
Run for Tomorrow
