Many students would not dream of walking the few miles between East and West Campus-imagine running the equivalent of two marathons a day for 111 days across Africa's Sahara Desert.
Charlie Engle, 44, who lives in Greensboro, N. C., and his teammates Ray Zahab of Canada and Kevin Lin of Taiwan did just that-setting off Nov. 2, 2006. They finished running the 4,000 miles across the Sahara Feb. 20.
"I hope that people see and hear about something as crazy as running across the Sahara Desert and realize that nothing is impossible," Engle said.
Engle and his teammates were the first modern runners ever to accomplish the feat of crossing the Sahara on foot.
In addition to setting a record, Engle said he undertook the expedition in order to support a non-governmental organization called H2O Africa that he helped to create. The objective of the non-governmental organization is to provide permanent sustainable long-term water solutions to Africa.
"We ran through two of the most impoverished countries in the world-Mali and Niger-where it is very common for people over hundreds of square miles to have no access to clean drinking water," Engle said.
The three teammates, their entourage and H2O Africa worked closely with the United Nations Development Programme and the ONE campaign-which strives to eradicate world poverty-to promote clean drinking water in Africa.
A film crew followed the runners throughout their expedition, making a documentary called "Running the Sahara" that will further the cause.
Engle stressed that H2O Africa's mission is to make Saharan communities self-sufficient.
"These people are not looking for us to do everything for them," Engle said. "They are just looking to have clean water, and if they can have water, that will allow them to grow food, to water their animals and to keep their families alive," he said.
Whitney Anderson, a sophomore on the track and field team, said she was impressed by the runners' feat.
"It really takes a special-almost zealous-person to do that," she said.
"People usually have trouble running one marathon and they take two weeks off," said sophomore Nick Trombold, also a member of the track and field team. "To do two marathons in a day and to keep doing it is pretty amazing."
Engle said he hoped the expedition would raise awareness for the water problem in Africa and increase support for H2O Africa.
"Forty-five hundred children die a day in Africa just from lack of clean water, and it would be a phenomenal legacy if we can reduce that number at all," he said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.