We have written many stories like this, they have read many stories like this. Maybe too many. Surely too many. To remember, a man who ran with a refrigerator of 42 kilos behind his back. But this story has something different, a small detail that invites reflection.

Let's see. This begins as usual: Nick Butter was a 28-year-old Bristol bank worker who was running ultra-fund races as a hobby until last year he decided to change his life. In 2015, a friend, Kevin, who died of prostate cancer had been made in the Sables marathon held in the Sahara and in his memory Butter proposed an exaggerated challenge: running a marathon in each and every one of the 196 countries recognized by the UN. In all? I feel two. Also in North Korea and Syria? Yes, yes, in all.

And although surprising, this Saturday he succeeded. In the classic marathon of Athens he set up his marathon number 196 in 196 countries in just 22 months and finished the challenge. On January 7, 2018, he ran 42,195 kilometers in Toronto, three days later he did the same in Miami, the next day in Nassau, two days later in Port-au-Prince and so on ... Flight by flight was planted for example on August 31 in Barcelona, ​​where he completed a marathon through the mountain of Collserola, and from where he left in a friend's car to Andorra to continue with his own.

How did he run in North Korea? Simple: he signed up for the Pyongyang international marathon, one of the few events in which the regime allows tourists, and he finished it. He interrupted his South American tour, from Peru, to enter the Asian country and five days later he returned to Ecuador.

How did he run in Sudan? According to his Strava, he did it 10 days ago inside the Al-Jalaa stadium in Damascus, although in his blog he has not yet explained the adventure. His last marathons, in fact, have been really disappearing because in Zambia he jogged down the same street up and down, in Sudan he ran next to Khartoum airport and in Yemen he was hooked to the Oman border.

According to his data, in order to complete his challenge he has taken 201 flights, 45 trains, 15 buses and 280 taxis, has filled out 10 passports and worn out 15 pairs of shoes, has suffered 25 negative grades in Toronto and 60 positive ones in Kuwait, has been imprisoned in Senegal, docked in Nigeria and bitten by a dog in Tunisia and has made many friends, such as the British ambassador to El Salvador, who gathered almost 1,000 people to accompany him on his 42,195 kilometers in the country.

For an adventurer like Butter, the experience will surely have been worth it, but now comes what has this story of different, the small detail that invites reflection.

According to the Briton, in his challenge, he sought to raise 250,000 pounds for the Prostate Cancer UK organization, but today, after an increase due to his recent appearance in the English press, he only accumulates 68,000. The many trips, lodging, food and other expenses such as hiring security in certain places raised spending up to 180,000 pounds, which according to Butter came out of his own savings, from selling all his belongings, from a small crowdfunding that he previously mounted and of some sponsors. A quick calculation leads us to conclude that without moving from his home in Bristol he could have donated triple what he will finally donate.

Despite the scale of its challenge, the amount collected is modest and falls far short of expectations. It is possible that the beneficial sports challenges, which experienced a boom with the rise of the Internet, are already exhausted. We have written many stories like this, they have read many stories like this. Maybe too many. Surely too many.

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