Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon 2012

Caballo Blanco and Raramuri runners

As you know, I had the incredible privilege of being invited to run the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon, the ultimate dream for every endurance runner. On March 4, 2012, I will toe the starting line of a 50-Mile race with 59 other foreign runners and around 300 of the great Raramuri, the Running People of the Copper Canyons to “create peace and run free”, as Caballo Blanco, the now-famous organizer of the race, very eloquently puts it.

This event is held once a year and has only happened 4 times since its revelation in Christopher McDougall's book "Born To Run". It is an outstanding opportunity to meet the elusive Raramuri, who live in reclusion deep inside the canyons and rarely interact with the outside world.

Running two times the distance of a marathon at the bottom of a canyon larger than the American Grand Canyon is the part of the challenge I will tackle on my own. Helping me in my adventure to get there, by air, railroad, bus and a 7-hour hike down the cliffs, as well as providing korima for The People of the Canyons, is something YOU can do to contribute to the dream.

Korima is the Raramuri word for the concept of “circle of sharing”, which means everyone will help everyone else with anything they possess, without asking anything in return. The runners invited to the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon are offered 500 pounds of corn if they can finish the race, and tradition has it that all the corn earned by foreign runners is redistributed to the local families as korima. I have vowed to do all that I am capable of - and beyond - to finish the race and offer my corn, as well as bringing donations to help local families get sufficient food, kids go to school and local programs be offered to The People.

Unlike ANY other donation you can make out there, I personally guarantee that every single dollar you offer will go directly to the Raramuri, without middle men or administrative gimmicks, as it will be me who will bring your korima in person, directly down into the canyons and in the hands of the people.

I am humbly requesting you contribute to the dream, in any of two ways :

1. You can help fund my travels, logistics and personal donation to The People. (I have already sent a sizeable sum of money as a personal contribution to The Raramuri)

2. You can make a donation strictly for The People, which I will bring to the last dollar and hand directly to The Raramuri.

Both buttons will take you to PayPal, a 100% secure payment site.



Thank you kindly, and as the Raramuri say, Kuira Ba. We are one.


UPDATE. Since the news came about Raramuri people struggling to find food and feed their communities, I have decided to give ALL the funds I gathered to the Food Relief Fund. Any dollar you have donated will thus be used to bring much-needed food vouchers directly into the hands of the People of the Canyon.