Hyderabad:.Gavin Griffiths from UK, a London Olympic Torchbearer and DiAthlete will be in the city to take part in the Charity Run organized as part of ISPAD 2018. 

He is an ultra-endurance athlete who has run 25 marathons in 30 days this year to show that any dream is still possible whilst living with diabetes. It was the biggest endurance challenge ever held.

 

This Charity Run will be held on October 14 at HICC, where he will participate along with 400 children with type 1 diabetes and their families, from Hyderabad and all over India.

 

Post the Run there will be a Question and Answer session for children with type 1 diabetes and their families, with him and experts attending ISPAD, from the fields of pediatric endocrinology,  nutrition, psychology. 

 

 Gavin Griffiths is the founder of DiAthlete – and known around various parts of the world for being “The DiAthlete!” An experienced distance runner and endurance maniac, Gavin has accomplished 74 extreme physical challenges – from running 30 mile marathons each day for 30 days, to cycling over serious inclines of the Alps – always motivated by living with type 1 diabetes.

 

Initially Gavin didn’t find it so easy to adapt to life with this condition. He was diagnosed at the age of 8, in January 2000. The DiAthlete openly shares that he felt there was “far too many risks and negatives surrounding life with type 1 diabetes,” and what lacked was general encouragement to guide patient’s towards the willingness of working with their condition. Gavin’s struggles occurred largely on returning to school and feeling different from everybody else in class. Deep down he struggled to accept the condition, and with forms of name-calling and a lack of understanding, a young Gavin found himself in trouble and in fist fights quite regularly. He became quite shy against his natural character, and bottled up the emotions. But eventually – largely influenced by a love of playing sports and getting back out there to do so – Gavin did find his dia-feet again!

 

Initially as a promising footballer and then onto a path of extreme running challenges, the DiAthlete legacy began! Gavin ran in 6 continents of the world. Fund raised over £25,000 for various diabetes charities. Physically ran over 2500 miles in endurance challenges.

 

And this year, he is back out to reach 100 endurance challenge successes since his first 10 years ago in 2008 – a 29 mile feat where people doubted he could ever make the finish line, let alone smash it in 3 hours and 1 minute!

 

Today, Gavin as a ‘DiAthlete’ has nothing more to prove – but there is always more to achieve and that empowerment factor needs to be passed on to the next generation living with type 1 diabetes, as we work to improve the lives of tomorrow.

 

All his endeavors show beyond any doubt that any dream is still possible whilst living with diabetes.