Ultra-endurance athlete summits Mount Kilimanjaro in quest to set world record
- Climb marks end of 5.8 Global Adventure Series in Africa; South America next in January 2020
- Charlie Engle aims to be first person in history to reach lowest, highest points on every continent
ARUSHA, Tanzania, Sept. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, global ultra-endurance athlete Charlie Engle summited Africa's highest point, Mount Kilimanjaro, at approximately 8 a.m. local time in Arusha, Tanzania (1 a.m. EST). The summit marks the end of the first leg of the 5.8 Global Adventure Series, one of the most ambitious expeditions in modern history. Engle aims to be the first person to go from the lowest to highest places on all seven continents.
On August 27, Engle departed North Carolina for Djibouti in eastern Africa where he began his human-powered expedition with a swim in Lake Assal, Africa's lowest point. He then went on to bike and run for 19 continuous days through Ethiopia, Kenya and part of Tanzania before arriving at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro to complete the first leg of the 5.8 Global Adventure Series.
Engle covered more than 2,500 miles across the continent, running past herds of giraffes on the savannas, cycling alongside zebras through rocky terrain, and facing aches and pains while trekking through dense jungles. He endured weather extremes, from blistering 150-degree Fahrenheit days in northern Ethiopia to ice storms and hypothermia in Kenya's Rift Valley. He experienced both warm welcomes and hostile warnings from communities he encountered. Despite the challenges, he finished the trek in 28 days.
"When I first started dreaming about this expedition ten years ago, I knew it would always be about more than just the extreme adventure or the world record," said Engle. "I have had some extreme lows and highs in my life, and I embarked on this journey as a metaphor for my life and the lives of others as a way to show that we can all persevere and move forward, while still acknowledging that the lows still exist. The lows don't make us weaker, it's just the opposite – they make us stronger."
The goal of the series, aptly named because 5.8 vertical miles separates the lowest point in the world (the Dead Sea) and the highest (Mount Everest), is to remind all of us that every person in the world lives in a tiny 5.8-mile sliver of the planet. We all have a shared responsibility to take care of this planet and of each other. Engle will tackle the next portion of the trek in South America in January 2020.
Engle's incredible athletic ability was profiled in the documentary film, Running the Sahara, narrated by Matt Damon, highlighting his historic, record-setting journey across the world's largest desert where he and two friends ran more than two marathons a day for 111 consecutive days, for a total of 4,500 miles. His transcontinental run through deep sand and politically unstable countries remains one of the premier accomplishments in the ultra-endurance and adventure sports worlds. He is also one of the most accomplished ultramarathon runners in the world, having placed in hundreds of races in dozens of countries. After crossing the Sahara and seeing the global water crisis first-hand, Engle teamed up with Matt Damon to create H20 Africa, which later became the global humanitarian organization, Water.org. In addition, his memoir, Running Man, became a bestseller shortly after it was published in 2016.
Engle's motivation to run and tackle extreme adventures stems from his battle with addiction to drugs and alcohol. He has been in recovery since July 23, 1992, and he credits a large part of his recovery to the purposeful devotion and emotional release he experiences while running. Engle and his wife, Astacianna, live in Durham, North Carolina.
About the 5.8 Global Adventure Series
The 5.8 Global Adventure Series is one of the most ambitious expeditions in modern history, seeking to make history by reaching the lowest point and the highest summit on every continent by 2022. For more information, visit 5Point8Project.com.
SOURCE 5.8 Global Adventure Series
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