A multiple world-record holder stopped in Willetton last week before resuming an ambitious effort to raise a billion dollars for charity.
Sri Lanka-born Suresh Joachim, 48, visited Perth as part of a World Vision-backed “World Peace Marathon”.
His goal is to break two records: the most amount of money raised by a charity run, and the most celebrities met along the way.
Mr Joachim stayed with family in Willetton during his Perth stopover on January 18-19, during which he completed a 20-kilometre run from King’s Park to Elizabeth Quay following a meeting deputy premier Roger Cook at Parliament House.
Australia was the 13th country in the world run, which began on December 25 in Bethlehem, Palestine, and will conclude on September 22 in Toronto, Canada, after visiting 123 countries.
As part of the run he also wants to raise support for creating a worldwide ceasefire day, when armed conflict should be halted and one-day meetings between opponents held.
“That’s what I want, no fighting for 24 hours,” he said.
“If we can stop wars like between Palestine and Israel, we will be stopping a lot of problems in the world.”
Using social media to document his travels, Mr Joachim is hoping to meet with 500 world leaders and celebrities along the way to boost support for his ambitious record attempt.
So far Mr Joachim has run over 500 kilometres and will continue to run between 20 kilometres and 40 kilometres a day in each city.
Despite the enormous challenge, he was confident he could raise $1 billion for charity.
Mr Joachim is no stranger to breaking records, and has at least 18 of them to his name which range from athletic achievements such as 1000 hours of nonstop running and a 100-hour dance marathon, to unusual records including completing 55 hours of continuous ironing.
Already Mr Joachim has visited 13 countries including, Israel, Ethiopia and South Africa as part of the marathon.
He left Perth for Adelaide on January 19, and will visit Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney before the end of the month.
Donations, signatures and updates on the World Peace Marathon can be found at worldpeacemarathon.com.
