{"id":7188,"date":"2022-02-24T14:46:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T14:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/?p=7188"},"modified":"2022-05-05T03:47:07","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T03:47:07","slug":"runner-feature-chris-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/club.runthrough.co.uk\/runner-feature-chris-green\/","title":{"rendered":"Runner Feature – Chris Green"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
I’ve loved rhinos my whole life! So when I heard that there were so few rhinos left in the wild that we risked losing them forever, I knew that I had to get involved and started running and fundraising for Save the Rhino International. A very special charity that is working tirelessly on multiple fronts to protect this awesome species for future generations.<\/p>\n
There are 5 different species of rhino in Africa and Asia and sadly 3 have been classified as critically endangered. The two greatest threats they face are from habitat loss and even more tragically from poachers and the twisted trade in rhino horn. That sees these magnificent animals killed simply for their horn!<\/p>\n
I ran my first marathon as a rhino at London 2009 and have never looked back. The Save the Rhino costume is iconic! As an emblem of the struggle to save the species, I feel enormously honoured every time I wear the suit and so far I have raised nearly £13k through all the rhino marathons and challenges I have run.<\/p>\n
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To further help the cause I have even written a childrens book, called Matumaini: The Rhinos’ Hope. It’s all about guess what a rhino that loves to run.<\/p>\n
Matumaini is the name of my lead character and also the Swahili word for “Hope” and it’s my hope that through her adventures “Little Matu” can inspire a love of rhinos and bring about much needed change. It’s available from Amazon and Waterstones and I’m donating 50% of my proceeds to Save the Rhino while donating as many copies as possible to various children’s charities.<\/p>\n
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I honestly believe that without the tireless work of Save the Rhino we would have already lost species of rhino entirely so I won’t be stopping running or writing for them as long as there are rhinos out there that need saving!<\/p>\n
As with my love of rhinos I have also always loved running. So it’s the privilege of my life that I get to combine the two and run as my favourite animal so often. I often joke that I am almost more rhino than human these days as I spend so much time training and running the rhino costume. As I say Sunday’s GoodWood Marathon was the latest in a long line of rhino running challenges that I’ve been taking on to raise awareness to the plight of my favourite animal.<\/p>\n
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Challenges that have taken me and the Rhino all over, from Goodwood to New York City and experienced so my highlights down the years. Such as: <\/p>\n Running over 1200 event miles in the costume including 38 Marathons, 6 Ultra Marathons, 2 Half-Marathons and Yorkshire’s 3 Peaks Challenge all in the rhino suit. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Running Yorkshire’s 3 Peak Challenge in the rhino costume on my birthday in July last year which also happened to be the hottest day of the year. Scaling peaks in 28 degrees inside a rhino suit may not sound like a great way to celebrate but I absolutely loved it and all the support the rhino got that day inspired me round in 7hrs 58mins.<\/p>\n
\nAchieving GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS for Marathon and Half Marathon<\/strong><\/a> distances in the costume: “Fastest marathon dressed as a mammal “ set at the London Marathon last year with a time of 4:06:35 and “Fastest half marathon dressed as a mammal” at the Great North Run with a time of 1:50:05. I also hold the GWR title for “Fastest Marathon dressed as a three-dimensional animal from London 2019.<\/p>\n
\nThe rhino and I joining the Leeds Rhinos Rugby League team during one of their training sessions.<\/p>\n