The 40th Anniversary of Sport Aid - John C. Anderson, Ph.D. former Chief of Special EVents

On May 25, 1986, 40 years ago, almost 20 million people in 274 cities ran 10K at the exact same time to support famine relief in Africa. A Sudanese runner, Omar Khalifa had carried a torch from Africa to Greece and from head of state to head of state on his way to New York City where at 11:00 am, he lit a caldron in front of the United Nations building that sent up a satellite signal to start the Race Against Time around the world.

This event went into the Guiness Book of Records as both the largest mass participation event in history and, at the time, the largest simultaneous satellite television broadcast with live feeds from 14 of the races. Sport Aid raised $37,000,000 for Ethiopian famine relief through Band Aid and UNICEF, and more important influenced the first ever UN session on Africa to wipe out the debt of many African nations.

How did this happen? Chris Long had an idea. He went to Bob Geldof of Band Aid and Jim Grant, the Executive Director of UNICEF and convinced them to join him in this first ever global event. With an office space in Waterloo, London, telephones and telex machines, volunteers worked 24 hours a day for months contacting race organizers, governments, athletic associations and anyone who would listen to join them in raising money for Africa. How was the money raised? Through the sale of t-shirts and individual runners getting sponsors for their participation in the Race Against Time. But it was the commitment of UNICEF field offices and National Committees that kicked the event into high gear. UNICEF made its commitment to participate in February of 1986 and in late March along with Band Aid was thinking about pulling out. I was sent to London to evaluate the event and the people on the ground that were organizing it.

After five days of living almost 24 hours a day in the Waterloo office and watching the incredibly dedicated volunteers working on creating as much buzz and building as many relationships as possible, I knew that UNICEF must continue its support. With Jim Grant’s acceptance of that recommendation, he immediately tasked the whole UNICEF organization to get behind it. The Communications Division under John Williams went into high gear. The field offices contacted government departments and race organizers in the developing countries and National Committees did the same in the developing countries that help to raise money for the UNICEF, the only voluntarily funded UN organization. In just six weeks, Sport Aid and the Race Against Time went from a struggling event run by volunteers to incredible teamwork between those volunteers, UNICEF offices, UNICEF National committees, governments and race organizers to produce the biggest and most successful mass participation event in history. Its impact was not only financial with the $37 million shared between Band Aid and UNICEF, it was political and historic, in its impact on the members of the United Nations that voted to cancel debt of African nations at the Special Session on Africa held the week following Sport Aid. In September 2023, Christopher John Long was awarded an MBE from Princess Anne at Windsor castle for his charitable work including Sport Aid.

If you want to learn more about this amazing event, Chris Long wrote a book that for five days starting May 25th , 2026 will be available FREE on Amazon.com. Chris and I are together for the 40th Anniversary at our home in San Jose del Cabo and will be toasting everyone who help make Sport Aid a success.