On Saturday 7th June, over 200 human-elephants took part in London’s first ever Enormous Elephant Run! Our runners took over Wimbledon Common in London for this sponsored fun run to raise vital funds and awareness for Africa’s threatened species and the field operations of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. 

It was a grey and wet start to the day, however shortly after 11am the elephants enthusiastically braced the rain and started their 5k or 10k runs and as they crossed the finish line and collected their medals, the sun came out to greet them. We had supporters from all over the UK come to join in the fun, as well as several of our friends from overseas who took it upon themselves to go the extra mile for Africa’s elephants.  Combined efforts of all our elephant runners has so far resulted in an incredible GBP £40,000 (and still counting!) being raised for the DSWT’s field projects. Perhaps the most entertaining part of the day was the group warm up for which we would like to thank the team at Red Hot Yoga – it is quite a sight to watch 200 people dressed as elephants work through a routine of star jumps, tail grabbing and toe-touching. The DSWT's very own Benjamin Kyalo also took part in the run. As Head Keeper of the Ithumba Elephant Reintegration Unit, Benjamin is usually in the bush caring for the orphaned elephants, but we were blessed to have him join the herd in London! You can still sponsor Benjamin at www.justgiving.com/enormouselephantrun.

We were delighted to see such an incredible turn out for elephants on the day. It goes without saying that every single elephant runner, volunteer and member of staff played a part in the fantastic atmosphere that was created and huge thanks goes to all those involved; volunteers, marshals, runners, supporters and of course our event sponsors Incentive FM Group and our friends at Sainsbury’s for providing all the water and bananas on the day to keep our ‘elephants’ hydrated and energised.  If you would like to take part in next year’s Enormous Elephant Run which will be expanding to expand to include a number of other cities, visit www.runforelephants.com and be one of the first to find out details 

Until next year...