South Africian Bee Keeper Runs Ultra Marathons to bring attention to Honeybees

Running ultra marathons is impressive enough; but running backwards through one is astounding – and that’s exactly what Farai Chinomwe did for the sake of honeybees. The South African beekeeper first discovered his knack for running backwards while returning home from a bee removal and his car broke down—with a crateful of anxious pollinators in the back seat. As Chinomwe pushed his car, he found that he had more strength when he turned around and pushed the vehicle backwards. From that point forward, he realized that his unique penchant for running backwards might be a way to coax people into think about honeybees. Chinomwe has since run dozens of ultra marathons all while facing the wrong way. His peculiar habit has proved surprisingly effective in drawing awareness to the plight of honeybees and how people can help. Chinomwe, who runs a bee removal service called Blessed Bee Africa, uses the attention to educate youngsters on beekeeping and how they can nourish local pollinator populations. Chinomwe has run the Two Oceans and Om die Dam Marathons backwards, and reverse-ran the Comrades Marathon three times. “This is dedicated to us saving bees, because they are under threat as we are talking right now,” Chinomwe says. Although he may be finishing his races the wrong way, he’s taking the future of bees in the right direction.

posted Sunday July 22nd