Runner writes book about record-breaking adventure

A MAN from Wargrave who broke the Guinness World Record for running the length of Africa has released a book on his journey.

Keith Boyd, 59, of Willow Lane, has written Running Africa, which tells how he ran from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt, spanning nine countries.

He completed the marathon in 301 days, which beat the record set in 1988 of 318 days.

Last year, he decided to pen his experience, having narrowly avoided being kidnapped in Ethiopia, “excruciating” temperatures, injuries and ambush between government forces and rebels in northern Ethiopia.

In total, the journey was 6,835 miles and his three children, Shannon, Callum and Keegan, joined him for different legs of the journey.

He slept in a 4x4 mobile caravan on most nights but also stayed in hotels and hostels.

Sales of his book will raise money for Rainbow Leaders, the charity he founded to encourage young people in Africa to vote.

He said: “I immigrated to South Africa as a young child and I wanted people to know what it was like to live under apartheid.

“Often you have to be in darkness before you can truly see the light.

“A lot of people would resonate with that kind of thought, that struggle is the thing that makes you strong. It was about setting the first couple of chapters at the start of the book to what led to the run.

“There are thousands of problems in society of gender-based violence, depression, substance abuse and South Africa has the world record for inequality and that did not use to be the case.

“Our inequality has increased over the last 20 years and there’s a world record for unemployment at above 35 per cent.

“The book goes into the mathematics behind why we need to change things and how we can change things through a ballot box and engage young voters to get involved in democracy.”

Mr Boyd, a social impact investor, says his book shares stories of the young people who joined him along the way, including videographer Michael, who was nearly shot in Ethiopia.

“Expecting struggle is what gets you through,” he said. “There is real shooting which I got on video and there are QR codes in the book so, when you read about the point of ambush between government forces and rebels in northern Ethiopia, you can be transported to that moment where I’m videoing the actual incident on my phone.

“It paints a picture of what was happening on the ground and similarly, there are some very uplifting moments in the story.

“My favourite people were always the young people who would come along and run with me and it would really lift my spirits when I was struggling.

“When I was dealing with the older children in more formal settings, I would always talk to them about the importance of democracy but there was no possibility to speak to children in schools in Sudan because they have got a civil war there at the moment.

“It was the same for northern Ethiopia and Zimbabwe because there’s a dictatorship.”

Mr Boyd said as a result of achieving the world record, it will push sales of the book but that it was “not worth the sacrifice” to achieve it at his age.

“A world record is as much used to me as a Gucci handbag,” he said. “It’s something that people might be drawn to but it was excruciatingly painful and life-threatening at times.

“I wouldn’t put myself and my family through it if there wasn’t a bigger goal. When I was training to be a combat officer in the army, I was in some of the hottest areas.

“Running from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo, you’re dropping down to about 10,000ft above sea level and, in many parts of Ethiopia, you’re running at altitude which is a skill on its own.

“It is the same with the heat. As you descend in northern Ethiopia down into Sudan and you get really into the Sahara, I was running in temperatures up to 48 degrees in the shade and in the sun it was hotter.

“I’d always have my head covered and I’d be drinking one-and-a-half litres an hour.

“I would have regular breaks just to make sure that I was keeping my body temperature managed.

“I knew how to do it with my time in the army having been trained and deployed to really hot places in Africa but my aging body has lost some of its natural ability to maintain its temperature.”

Mr Boyd hopes to raise £2m in the next five years and is holding book talks in Australia and South Africa. Running Africa costs £14.99 on Amazon.

To make a donation to Rainbow Leaders,  visit tinyurl.com
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