After a life changing accident broke his back and ended his successful career as a jockey, Lantau resident Jo Lodder is planning an adventure so bonkers no one has ever done it before, and changing other people's lives (for the better) in the process.
Jo is planning the unthinkable - a 390km run with nearly 20,000m elevation in just 5 days. To put that in perspective, Mt. Everest tops out at 8,848m, a jet liner cruises at around 13,000m and Chinese 'weather' balloons get shot down at 16,000m. That's some serious effort. I ran for a bus once and was glad for the seat once I caught up with it.
Why, might you ask, is Jo deciding to do this? "To be the first to do it which is always a good thing to do!" he tells me; that and he's trying to get more than just himself moving.
Jo is raising much needed funds for 1st STEP HK, a charity that provides electric mobility chairs for low-income disabled people. "They have 15 broken electric wheelchairs they can't afford to repair that they need to get working for 15 homebound disabled people, and they asked if I could help raise the money to do this." Jo says. A worthy cause indeed.
The second charity he'll be running in aid of is Lantau based TAILS animal shelter. They desperately need better facilities to help more animals in need and funds are short. This is the second fund-raiser Jo has done for TAILS, the first of which was his Walk For Freedom which was 4 of Lantau's major trails.
Jo will start his adventure at midnight on 28th February where he'll run all the way from Tai O at the west end of Lantau Island to Sha Tau Kok near the mainland border. Then he'll complete the Big Four - The Wilson Trail, The Hong Kong Trail, The Maclehose Trail and finally the Lantau Trail on 5th March. 390km and nearly 20,000 elevation. He's quite mad!
Jo has a team helping him on this adventure; from drone pilots, drivers and photographers to his wife Novy - a chef and owner of Novy's Kitchen, who shall be replenishing his energy all the way around with a 100% plant based diet.
What Jo really needs is your help and support. He aims to raise a whopping $100,000 and is already nearly half way to the mark, but he needs to push the funds just as hard as he'll be pushing himself. Each wheelchair costs $12,000 just in repairs. If you're in a position to help, please click the donation link and donate whatever you can afford. The top 10 fund raisers will each receive a T8 running shirt.
If you'd like to track Jo on his epic adventure you can follow him here. The link goes live when Jo's run does. It's likely he'll be passing very close to where you live, so come out and cheer him on. DONATE: www.give.asia/runforfreedom TRACK JO LODDER - LIVE FROM 12:00AM 1 MARCH
https://live.dottrack.asia/runforfreedom23/ MORE INFORMATION: www.jolodder.com/runforfreedom
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