The man in the picture with an elephant, on the Annapurna trails – Nepal, is one of the finest all-rounder of all time – Sir Ian Botham. Born on November 24, 1955, Oldfield, Heswall, Cheshire, this legend of England have played altogether 102 official test matches and 116 ODIs. He has scored 5000 runs and took about 383 wickets in test and above 2000 runs with 145 wickets in ODI.
“With or without elephants, Sir Ian Botham (pictured above walking with elephants) has walked his plates to within an inch of carpaccio too many times to remember, but perhaps his most spectacular and demanding charity walk was up and down the hills (or rather mountains) of the Himalayas in 1995. Having launched the first ever Annapurna 100 – a now annual 100km race around the famous Annapurna Circuit in Nepal – Beefy set off on a ‘speed trek’ 24 hours before the race proper. Two grueling days and 7,000 feet of altitude later, he arrived at the finish line, ran a few baths for the arriving runners and settled back with a bottle of red. Not bad for an almost-40-year-old. ” – Original article from All Out Cricket
ANNAPURNA 100 RACE was started after Botham’s race on 31st Oct 1995
“Annapurna 100 race” was started on October 31st, 1995 when Sir Ian Botham started this 100 km race. The race proved that a run from Pokhara to Poon Hill and back was possible in less than 12 hours. Since then this race is identified as one of the World’s Great Trail Running Races.
Lastly, though the charity race was not related to Cricket in Nepal, Sri Botham’s journey is often quoted as “The Most Remarkable Cricketing Journey Ever”.
