I RAN THE WORLD

On May 25th, 35 years ago, 20 million people in 89 countries took to their streets to run 10k in protest and to demand action for the famine victims of Africa.

Chris Long, the founder and organiser of sport Aid and Run the World wants us to remember what happened back then – before the internet, social media and mobile phones – and ask ourselves what we should and could do now, in a world that should seek change more than ever.

This week, as a special celebration of the 35th anniversary of Sport Aid, Chris is reading extracts from his book – ‘I Ran the World’ in a series of 7 videos, to help remember what is possible.

It was September 2015 and it was my birthday. I was 61 years old and when I looked in the mirror my dear old Dad looked back at me. I turned on the BBC news and something incredible happened. On the screen was a heart-breaking photograph of a dead three-year-old boy. His body had been washed up on a beach in Turkey. 

“Aylan Kurdi and his five-year-old brother, Galip, drowned after their overloaded boat capsized off of the coast of Turkey.” 

Aylan’s body had been discovered on one of Turkey’s beaches in the Bodrum Peninsula. Images of the ghastly find, photographed by Nilufer Demir from Turkey’s Dogan News Agency, had been shared on social media and on the front pages of newspapers around the world, particularly in the UK and Europe.

The image of a distressed Turki...

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global health and societal emergency that continues to demand effective immediate action by governments, individuals and businesses.

Press attention has been unprecedented.

The reaction of governments unprecedented.

The response has been dramatically different to anything provoked by repeated scientific warnings about climate change. The many organisations that declared climate emergencies throughout 2019 and 2020 have so far done nothing on the scale and speed of action to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Ironically, action on COVID-19 has lowered CO₂ emissions drastically, with flights suspended and factories closed in many parts of the world.

The big question now is how do we continue the environmental benefits once the COVID-19 epide...

Sir Bobby Charlton is not just England’s greatest ever footballer. He is the most compassionate, humble and generous man I’ve ever met and I had the enormous pleasure and honour of working with him.

In December 1985, I met Bobby for the first time at Birmingham Airport. He had paid for me to fly with him to Mexico City for the World Cup draw. I was trying to put together a project to help support the African famine victims of Sudan and Ethiopia at the time. It was called Sport Aid and Run the World. I was it’s founder and organiser. I was trying to get Sport stars and athletes to put on events for a whole week in May 1986 to inspire ordinary people to run 10k through their cities for Africa. 

“Come to the World Cup draw with me” said Bobby, “everyone in football will be there”...

The British Airways Jumbo thumped the runway at Heathrow. I looked up, half asleep and gazed out of the window. Rivulets of rain were pushing across the glass in an uncharted fashion as they tried to make their way to the bottom. It reminded me a lot of my journey over the past year.
It was cold, grey and overcast – a fairly typical warm welcome to London. The plane braked hard and then veered off the runway to find its nominated stand space among its brothers and sisters.
I was exhausted . . . knackered . . . fucked.
This was my second New York roundtrip of the week and everything I had worked so hard for rested on the next few hours.
I had gone over the pitch a thousand times during the very short night but still felt really nervous.
This has to work.
I had no luggage – just a small bri...

For the next few weeks I’m going to give you all an insight into my new book – ‘I Ran The World‘ – with some chapters, photographs, videos and some extra juicy bits of information you definitely don’t know.

For those of you who have followed me for some time on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you will know that I truly believe we can all affect the world in which we live. We do not have to just accept the status quo, sit back and watch policymakers shape a world they think we want to live in.

Change the World

Global populations grow quickly, wars and hostility continue to rage, refugees are constantly displaced and religion continues to divide us. Stubborn disbelievers ignore the reality of climate change, melting glaciers and warming oceans...

It was as unique as it was inspiring. An endeavour that for the first time used the message of sport to help a human cause; in this case, the children of famine-hit Africa.

Girdling the globe from Warsaw to Washington and Sydney to Singapore, thousands of running shoes echoed a message of hope and solidarity. Time came to a standstill all over, the world on May 25, 1986 as Sudanese runner Omar Khalifa handed the Torch of Hope – lit from a refugee camp fire at Khartoum and carried by him across 12 European cities – to the United Nations. Khalifa’s gesture was the starting gun that triggered off 10-km runs in 274 cities across the world, including 17 in India.

In New Delhi, at the same time that Khalifa’s torch reached its destination, Flying Sikh Milkha Singh, P.T...

This year, almost 4,000 people have crossed the English Channel, in more than 300 small boats. There was a new record of at least 235 arrivals on 6 August. This will only get worse until we address the heart of the issue.

In my book ‘I RAN THE WORLD‘ I describe how this specific issue caused me to write my book:

CHAPTER 21

It was September 2015 and it was my birthday.

I was 61 years old and when I looked in the mirror my dear old Dad looked back at me.

I turned on the BBC news and something incredible happened.

On the screen was a heart-breaking photograph of a dead three-year-old boy. His body had been washed up on a beach in Turkey. 

“Aylan Kurdi and his five-year-old brother, Galip, drowned after their overloaded boat capsized off of the coast of Turkey.” 

I have written my book in the hope that it might inspire just one person (or more) to pick up my Sport Aid torch and RUN THE WORLD again. We need to do it for so many reasons.

This weekend (August 8th/9th, 2020) I am making my kindle version free and hope you all download it and in some way, feel inspired if you read it. Enjoy and let’s change the world together!

Download here

35 years ago today, I was at Wembley Stadium to watch Live Aid. It was an incredible event that changed my life. That day changed everything and life suddenly took a completely new direction.
I write about it all in my book I Ran the World. Chapter 4:

I stood in the crowd at Live Aid just in front of the mixing tower to the right. The view was great and the atmosphere even better. It was a hot, sunny day and the place was buzzing.
This was supposed to be the culmination of a week of fundraising events for Africa. That had been Bob’s plan when we met back in February and I was supposed to have put on 10 sponsored runs last Thursday. 
It didn’t happen.
I was glad.
Sport can do more than a few sponsored runs in the UK.
I look back now with such fondness on what was one of that decade’s mo...