Thai Rockstar Toon Runs 50 Kilometers a Day for 55 Days – All for Charity

Thai rockstar Toon runs for charity from November 1 to December 25.

Artiwara “Toon” Kongmalai, of the band Bodyslam, will be running from Thailand’s Betong district in the southern Yala province to the Mae Sai district in the north Chiang Rai province. It’s a 55-day, 2,191-kilometer journey, which began November 1.

The rocker will be running to inspire the citizens of Thailand to raise funds for 11 local hospitals by the end of the run, which falls on December 25.

The gesture, grand as it may be on Toon’s part, requires each Thai citizen to part with just 10 baht (approx. S$0.40) of their money in order to reach the target sum of US$20 million.

“In addition to raising funds to help improve the hospitals here in Thailand, I also want to inspire people to be more active and healthier, to run and exercise,” said Toon via a Nike release.

You can keep up with Toon on his arduous journey via facebok.com/konkonlakao (“konkonlakao” translates to “step by step” in the Thai language).

Pre-run prep

The rockstar’s love for running and his extraordinary mission caught the eye of Nike. To assist him in achieving his goal, the brand invited Toon to its World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.

The experts at the Nike HQ, including the team behind Breaking2 from the Nike Sports Research Lab (NSRL), conducted analyses on Toon to gain insights into his pace, heart rate, fluid and calorie requirements and recovery modalities.

With those insights, Nike footwear specialists advised Toon to rotate between five pairs each of the Nike Zoom Fly and the Nike Zoom Vaporfly 4% running shoes over the 55-day run.

Before Toon left, Nike also gifted Toon a pair of the Nike Air Max 1 (a silhouette that he’s a fan of), signed by Tinker Hatfield.

You can be a part of Toon’s journey

You can join in the last 10 kilometers of Toon’s run on December 25 as he completes his epic journey in Chiang Rai.

And, if you happen to be in Bangkok on December 25, you can join the local Nike team for a special Nike Run Club session to celebrate Toon’s breakthrough, while he completes his last leg at Mai Sai province. Updates can be found on the Nike Thailand page.

Thinking about traveling to Chiang Rai or Bangkok to celebrate Toon’s feat? What’s stopping you? Plus you get S$40 off your next accommodation booking on Booking.com when you book via this link.

Read More: NatGeo’s Nike Breaking2 Documentary Explores the Feat of Failure