The Daily HoB: South Africans running the London Underground to help save the Rhino

Duncan and Jono have made it their 2016 goal to run the London Underground from station to station, above ground, in order to raise awareness for a great cause!

"We will be dedicating each run, each station, each kilometer and each drop of sweat to the plight of one of Africa's most majestic animals, the Rhino."

They have teamed up with the registered rhino charity 12 Hours who are a reputable, registered Rhino conservation charity in South Africa. The donations received by the charity are used to fund specific projects like Rhino DNA Database, Horn Treatment and poisoning, anti-poaching intelligence, sniffer/tracker dogs and education.

"Every 12 hours a Rhino is killed in South Africa. A simple and devastating fact, but true nonetheless. The thought that when you wake up tomorrow morning another Rhino would have been slaughtered is heartbreaking, yet there is something you can do in the next 12 hours to help change this."

The idea to 'run the underground' came when Duncan was sweating on a packed jubilee train one hot summers day. He found himself frustrated by the fact that more and more people kept cramming themselves onto the train and to make matters worse it felt like the train was coming to a stop every 500 meters.

Since arriving from South Africa in 2014 he never had any reference points for the landmarks in and around London and he never got to see anything because he was always travelling underground. Duncan had no idea how far the train was travelling or what was directly above ground and he found himself fascinated that although it seemed like the stations were quite far apart, in actual fact they were really close together.

Duncan and his friend Jono both decided that running the underground would not only give them a very unique view of London but that they would also be able able to achieve the health and fitness goals they both had in common. Not only would this be a really fun way to get fit and healthy they also realised it would be a brilliant opportunity to raise awareness for the 5 species of rhino which so badly need to be protected for our future generations.

To date they gave run a total distance of 53KM, reached 37 out of the 270 stations and have grown to a team of 4 runners. If you like what you are doing and would like to get involved please get in touch with them. Most importantly, please show them your support by making a donation to their JustGiving page. All the donations will go directly to the charity, 12 Hours. Every single donation no matter how small and in any currency is welcome and does make a huge difference.

'Like' and follow their progress on their Facebook Page - click here

Run the London Underground website - click here

Make a donation - click here

Visit the 12 Hours Rhino Charity website - click here