07 Sep 2023

A 36-year old London-based marathon runner and running coach, Deo Kato, on August 26 entered Botswana as his second country for his 14 570 km marathon across 14 countries.

His journey, which covers at least 40km a day, started in Capetown, South Africa and he is expected to reach London on August 24 next year.  He travels with his driver only.

The Ugandan-born, who grew up and lives in London, embarked on this biggest marathon with the intention to raise awareness on the history of human migration from the Africa to the rest of the world.

BOPA reporter, Kehumile Moekejo, caught up with him on Day 45 at Jwaneng, while on transit to Gaborone, where he revealed in an interview that the #DeoRuns initiative, which is mainly sponsored by Adidas Terrex, was inspired by past experiences of racism and human injustices while growing up.

 He said as a runner, he decided to use his talent for such campaigns, hence he did the initial 381 marathon in the UK between June 2020 and June 2021. Deo said even though it was a smaller version and he only did 10km each day, the initiative caught momentum and developed into a movement.

“Growing up in London, I have experienced a lot different situations mainly to do with racism, even though there were other good things.

The murder of people such as George Floyd in Minneapolis and the appraising of Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 brought back a lot of memories of me experiencing racism and as a runner I wanted to use something close to me to do a protest. I started to do a lot of research around such issues and the 381 days was inspired by the bus boycott that happened in 1958 and lasted for the same period,” he said.

Deo believes his course would not only raise awareness on the history of human migration but also motivate young people that nothing is impossible to achieve. Since this is a protest, he intends to only travel through road and where possible cross through the ferry between countries such as Algeria and Spain and from France to his base in London.

The use of such modes of transport are meant to emphasise how humans crossed from one continent to another. During this journey, he usually makes brief stops to engage the communities on the purpose of his course, especially those he meets along his route.

Additionally, he has conceptualised the Legacy of Hope, in which he intends to visit various schools in countries he transverses through in the 381 days. “The dream is that generations to come will see my work and be inspired to help create a better world and learn the truth of our existence,” he said.

However, he acknowledges that challenges such as rapid weather changes from when he started in winter to the current hot temperatures has affected his schedule. His car break downs has also rendered him behind schedule since he had to do less distances on those days.

Nevertheless, he plans to strive to cover a maximum distance going forward to catch up, and also avoid gravel roads.

He has also appealed for support and sponsorship, especially from African countries which he passes through, to ensure his journey is successful. He is expected to enter Gaborone on Monday. ENDS