Exhausted, sore, sun-scorched, dehydrated, satisfied and proud, ultrarunners Charlie Engle of the USA, Ray Zahab of Canada,
and Kevin Lin of Taiwan completed their remarkable journey across the Sahara Desert on Wednesday at the Egyptian Red Sea coast,
20 miles from Cairo, finishing a grueling 7300 km (4580 mile) campaign to raise awareness of the world water crisis and broader
poverty.
“I’m tired and stiff, but happy to be done. It was an incredible experience,” Zahab told the Associated
Press minutes after his 111-day run, the equivalent of two marathons a day for nearly four months. In addition to the Saharan
temperatures, Zahab and his fellow athletes battled blinding sandstorms, biting and stinging insects and other pests, and
the many physical afflictions that accompany a run across an entire continent.
Academy Award winner Matt Damon and
his production company, Live Planet, in cooperation with fellow Oscar winner director James Moll, chronicled the journey in
a documentary, “Running the Sahara,” slated for release later this year. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supported
the project, and the runners during their saga visited UNDP anti-poverty and community-development projects and Global Environment
Facility work in North Africa.
The runners visited water-management, governance and peace-building efforts in
Mali and Niger, a conservation project for medicinal plants in Egypt, dam construction in Mauritania, and a school in Senegal.
In their journey across deserts and through oases, Engle, Zahab and Lin stopped to talk to villagers and nomads about the
challenges they face living with the scarcity of water.
“For the runners, water is a daily necessity,” said Irena
Mihova, a UNDP co-producer for the project. ”For the people of the Sahara, and throughout the developing world, it is a lifelong
concern.”
According to UNDP’s 2006 Human Development Report, a lack of clean water and sanitation causes nearly
two million child deaths every year. Executive producer Damon is partnering with the H2O Africa Foundation to raise funds
and awareness to address the scarcity of clean drinking water in Africa. About UNDP: UNDP is the UN's global network to help
people meet their development needs and build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working as a trusted partner
with governments, civil society and the private sector to help them build their own solutions to global and national development
challenges. Further information can be found at www.undp.org.
About H2O
Africa:
H2O Africa has a mission to create widespread public awareness of the water crisis in Africa
and gather support for integrated sustainable clean water programs in critical areas. Oversight of H2O Africa programs and
initiatives will be through partnerships with major non-government organizations as well as progress-based grant agreements.
About Allentown Productions, Inc.:
Based at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, since 1993, Allentown
Productions is a company that specializes in non-fiction film. The company's principal, James Moll, was born in Allentown,
Pennsylvania – hence, the name of the company. His work as a documentary director/producer has earned numerous awards including
the Academy Award™, two Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award, Edward R. Murrow Award, Cable Ace, and the Christopher, among others.
Allentown Productions has worked closely with Executive Producer Steven Spielberg for the past ten years on both feature documentary
films and non-fiction series, and has also created documentary films for NBC, HBO, and The History Channel, among others.
About Independent Producers Alliance (“IPA”):
IPA champions the work of award-winning independent
producers who make films that inspire people to good things. IPA is based in Charlotte, NC where it operates production and
post-production facilities, as well as its administration and distribution service units. Other IPA feature films scheduled
for release in the coming year include The Ultimate Gift and The Perfect Game.
About LivePlanet:
LivePlanet develops and produces entertainment properties for traditional as well as digital media distribution platforms,
with a focus on leveraging technology and integrating brands to tell compelling stories. LivePlanet currently has projects
in active stages of production and development in film, television, broadband and mobile distribution platforms, working with
partners ranging from Microsoft, Amp'd Mobile and Yahoo! to The Walt Disney Company, Viacom and NBCUniversal. Recent projects
include the feature film First Descent (Universal), wireless game PhoneTag (Amp'd Mobile), the three-time Emmy-nominated Project
Greenlight (HBO/Bravo, Miramax), Fan Club: Reality Baseball (MSN Originals), and Race to E3 (MTV and Xbox Live).
For
media enquiries, please contact:
Irena Mihova, UNDP, irena.mihova@undp.org,
tel. +1 212-906-5171; Craig Bankey, PMK/HBH, Tel.+1 310-289-6200
