From Cape Town to Cairo! Rainbow Runner Keith Boyd is hitting long roads for reasons bigger than the chance to break a world record. With the future of the Rainbow Nation fuelling him, Keith treks forward:
Africa (12 September 2023) — Keith Boyd, AKA Rainbow Runner, is a man on a mission. Deciding to put one foot in front of the other to inspire more active citizenship in South Africa, Keith is running from one tip of the continent (Cape Town) to another (Cairo).
For the South African-Brit in his late 50s, the mission is greater than its length, endurance or the world record he has the opportunity to break.
This Rainbow Runner has his sights on a big end-goal—inspiring more young communities to start their active citizenship momentum by voting.
In South Africa, voter apathy is not foreign to the younger demographic. While there are multiple reasons for this, a sense of feeling as though change can’t be made from an individual vote alone tends to influence the decision not to vote.
For Keith who grew up in the Western Cape and the Rainbow Leaders NPO he founded, the bigger trek is shifting this mindset. 11,500kms is a long way to go to inspire voting culture, but as Keith shared in an interview with Cape Talk, if there wasn’t a big reason behind the run, he wouldn’t be able to make it.
The Iron Man and Comrades runner further indicated that for him, the cracks in South Africa’s potential are lined in poverty. Fostering economic growth then, requires leaders invested in the cause and a population concerned with accountability of leadership; two elements the voting process spurs. While Keith’s Cape to Cairo run is not aligned to a specific party, it is aligned to the mindset that South Africans need to see themselves as part of influencing our country’s future for the better; not just as victims of it.
He began his run from the Cape in late July, and recently updated his supporters from Botswana.
You can keep up with Keith’s long run to active citizenship here.
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