Project Salt Run

Project Salt Run is a 4,200 km running challenge tracing the forgotten route of the historic Inland Customs Line in India, a boundary once used to enforce the salt tax. It’s a line tied to suffering, famine and injustice. But it’s also a line I now run to transform into a path of remembrance, connection and change. This project is personal. I’ll finish at my dad’s childhood home, honouring family roots that trace back to 1799. I'll be running 100 marathons in 100 days, aiming to raise £1,000,000 for 1% for the Planet. It’s an endurance feat, but more importantly, it’s an invitation: to act and to reimagine what’s possible. People: This is about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. I only started running in 2024. If that shift is possible for me, it’s possible for others. I hope to inspire belief: in ourselves, and in what we can do when we care deeply. Planet: Project Salt Run supports frontline climate action and community-led sustainability in India. We’ll be driving positive impact and spotlighting businesses, people and projects creating real change. Purpose: By retracing, we’re reclaiming the Inland Customs Line as a modern route of hope. Reminding us that our shared future depends on equity, courage and collaboration. The East India Company, founded in 1600, was one of the first corporations driven by shareholder value and would grow to become the largest company in the world. To enforce the Salt Tax, a 2,504-mile-long inland customs line was built. Known as the Great Hedge of India, largely made of thorny vegetation taller and longer than the Great Wall of China. During the famine of 1876–1878, between 6 and 10 million people died. In 1879, the line was dismantled and then disappeared almost entirely from historical record. In 1995 British author Roy Moxham stumbled across a reference in an old memoir. He uncovered what is still the only major research into this chapter of history. I read his book in 2014 and it’s stayed with me ever since.