Toronto — On August 27 and 28, the team of 20 international citizen athletes who have been running around the world nonstop since June 1 will arrive in Toronto, as part of their journey across the continent for the 2007 Blue Planet Run.

This unprecedented international athletic event is raising money to fund water projects that will deliver safe drinking water to some of the 1.1 billion people who currently live without it.

The inaugural 2007 Blue Planet Run, an event made possible by the generous support of The Dow Chemical Company, launched from the United Nations in New York City on June 1. Since then, the team has traveled relay-style 24 hours a day, seven days a week through Ireland, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, China and Japan. Enduring some of the world’s most diverse terrains, the runners have faced tough conditions, from navigating the crowded streets of Prague to swatting flies through the Gobi Desert.

A $30 contribution can provide one person safe drinking water for life, according to the Blue Planet Run Foundation (BPRF), the nonprofit group organizing the Run.

The runners, representing 13 countries, include a renowned jazz musician; a Scottish gardener; a champion marathoner; and married couple Brynn Harrington, 29, and Sean Harrington, 30.　 　Upon arrival in Toronto, the team will have covered over 14,000 of the 15,200-mile journey, which will take 95 days to complete. Blue Planet Run team members run individual 10-mile (16-kilometer) shifts.

"By the time the Run leaves Toronto, we hope every local resident becomes a witness and messenger to a human crisis happening right now — a crisis brought about by the lack of safe drinking water," said Jin Zidell, founder and chairman of BPRF. "Just as we’re doing around the world, we’re carrying a message of hope, step by step, through the streets of Toronto, to push the issue to the forefront of people’s minds and hearts in this city."

The 2007 Blue Planet Run route through the Toronto area includes Halton Hills, Brampton and Mimico beginning the evening of August 27.　 After Toronto, the Run continues in Ontario and then enters New York State late afternoon on August 28.

Nearly 2.2 million people, most of them children, die each year owing to diseases related to unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Water-related illnesses are the single greatest cause of human sickness and death worldwide.