Celebrating his 50th birthday, Great Ape ambassador and all round favourite conservationist, Ian Redmond, completed the London Marathon for the first and only time on Sunday 18th April 2004 in a time of 4 hours 47 minutes.

"It exceeded all my expectations but was harder than I ever managed" said Ian seconds after arriving at Born Free's encampment at the end of Bird Cage Walk. "The furthest I had run in training was 8 miles so the last 18 miles was uncharted territory".

Ian is recognised by conservationists and animal lovers around the world as one of our leading Great Ape experts having introduced Sir David Attenborough to gorillas for his famous sequence in Life on Earth.

Ian is also the United Nations Environment Programmes Great Ape Survival Partnership Technical Team Director and has spent the last two years criss-crossing the globe promoting the conservation of our nearest non-human relatives.

"Born Free had made me a super big banner with an ape on it", said Ian " Originally I had thought I would run for a few miles and then discard it but the public's reaction everywhere I ran was immense and shouts from the public to keep going for the apes made me stick with the banner!! It slowed me down and was positively a hazard to other runners as whenever the wind caught it it threatened to decapitate several other competitors at a single go but in the end I became very attached to it".

Ian and his colleagues at Born Free are fighting for Great Apes in a number of African countries. Uganda, Cameroon and DRC. Ian is also a leading light within the Orang-utan Foundation so no great apes species on earth is left out and in recognition of his achievement Born Free is keeping open Ian's Just Giving website to receive donations and gifts to help the apes so if you would like to reward Ian for completing the London Marathon 2004 (he was on his back unable to move with a spinal injury just two weeks before!) then please go to http://www.justgiving.com/redmond and if you are UK tax payer,
simply hit 'Gift Aid' and we can recover more from the Government at no cost to you.

This young chimpanzee is cared for at Lwiro Primate Sanctuary in eastern DRC. He is kept permanently chained by the neck as the fledgling sanctuary has no other way to keep him from raiding neighbours' crops.

Ian Redmond, one of the worlds leading great ape conservation experts, has made a personal promise to Gentil to get him off that chain (see pic above). Like the other primates at Lwiro, Gentil was born in a forest and cared for by his mother. But she was killed, probably for bushmeat, and Gentil was sold illegally as a pet. Luckily Congolese authorities confiscated him and brought him to the sanctuary.

Now Born Free is raising money to remove Gentil's chain and build him a large enclosure. With enough funds Born Free could create a permanent forest sanctuary in DRC for all Lwiro's primates.

Caribbean Holidays

For the launch of the Caribzones group of websites we will work in asssociation with Born Free towards this vision.

Follow Ian's training and lead up to the 2004 London Marathon where he runs in aid of the Ape Alliance and Born Free ape projects - from Gentil and other chimp orphans at Lwiro Sanctuary in Congo, to the UN Great Apes Survival Project.

Apes are in crisis and there’s no time to lose. Chimps, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans face imminent extinction due to human exploitation. We destroy their forest homes, hunt them for ‘bushmeat’ and steal their babies for pets.

The world must act together NOW to stop the slide to extinction. I’ve been hooked on great apes since working with Dian Fossey in the 1970’s to protect the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. I’m determined to do everything I can to save our great ape cousins. Please help me.

To sponsor me please click the ‘Sponsor Ian now’ button and follow instructions. Thank you.

Yours, with hoots and chest beats,

Ian

Born Free are increasingly receiving donations from supporters who have run in other national races including the Great North Run, the Great South Run and the Flora Light Marathon for Women - all raising money for wildlife projects.

If you are taking part in any of these events or others no matter how big or small contact bornfree@caribzones.com if you would like to raise funds for Born Free.

To find out about Born Free's work, please go to www.bornfree.org.uk

Join Born Free's fantastic trek through Sri Lanka this September to visit the baby elephants at the orphanage in Udawalewe.

Enjoy the experience of a lifetime AND raise funds for the orphans' daily food and care.

To find out more, call Sam on 00 44 (0)1403 240170,

email sam@bornfree.org.uk

or visit our website at http://www.bornfree.org.uk/srilanka.shtml