Press

WHAT THE PRESS HAD TO SAY ABOUT OUR FIRST EPIC ENDURANCE CHALLENGE MAKING HISTORY AT THE GRAND CANYON

Blind man conquers the Grand Canyon, Air Date: 11/09/14
Dan Berlin knew walking the Grand Canyon from rim to rim and back to the starting point was going to be tough. He is virtually blind and every step is a potential pitfall, which is why he realized the only way he could do this was with friends. Barry Petersen reports.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3858885407001/first-blind-man-runs-grand-canyons-rim-to-rim-challenge/?#sp=show-clips

Watching the sun rise, four friends reflected on the accomplishment they completed the night before— running across all 46 miles of the Grand Canyon, the span of the national landmark. A feat for any athlete, theirs was even more special because four of them were guiding their friend Dan Berlin, who is blind.

The team guiding Dan Berlin across the Grand Canyon had been running for 22 hours when they stopped, at 3:30 a.m., to admire the moon. One of the guides, Alison Qualter Berna, felt a pang of guilt because Berlin, who is blind, couldn’t see it. But he didn’t mind. For him, experiencing the Grand Canyon in his own way—through the smells, fall breezes, and simply feeling the moon’s presence—was just as powerful.

Five friends sat together at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, near the low-slung stone building the mule trains from the rim head to, Phantom Ranch. It was the middle of the night, in the early hours of Oct. 8. The five had run 35 or so miles, mostly continuously, from the South Rim of the canyon, down to the river and up the other side to the North Rim. They’d passed Phantom Ranch the day before, and now they were back.

Dan Berlin successfully became the first blind runner to run across the Grand Canyon and back, completing the trek in 28 hours.

On October 8, at age 46, he became the first blind person to complete the Rim to Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon, a 46-mile trail run with an enormous 20,000 feet of elevation gain. Guided by four sighted athletes and starting on the South Rim, Berlin and team finished in 28 hours-an achievement for any ultrarunner, but obviously exponentially more difficult for someone who can’t see rocks or steps in the trail, or the dropoffs on the side of the trails.

Dan Berlin's message is clear: his blindness is an inconvenience, not a disability. His blindness doesn't have to be limiting. His blindness won't keep him from running.

http://chirb.it/EbG2kn

Reclaiming the athleticism of her youth, a local mom’s latest adventure will take her across the Grand Canyon, leading a blind friend.

Last month, Dan Berlin, 43, a blind athlete from Fort Collins, Colorado, ran the 46-mile Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim (R2R2R) route via the Bright Angel and North Kaibab trails.

Dan Berlin made history as the first blind runner to cross the Grand Canyon from the South Rim to the North Rim and back in one go. I served as one of Dan’s four guides and I am forever changed by the experience.

International Press

Dan's history making 20,000 feet was covered around the world.

what the press had to say about
our 2015 Machu Picchu Run

On July 4, 2009, Dan Berlin, out of shape and feeling depressed about the growing list of things he couldn't do as he lost his vision to rod-cone dystrophy, started to run...

"People aren’t used to seeing a highly-functioning blind or disabled individual traveling, so I’m able to challenge the perception of people in different countries.”

A Colorado man has become the first blind athlete to run the historic Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in under a day. Dan Berlin called it his "most challenging feat."

"If they wanted to make history... the team of runners was going to have to move faster."

"Blind Runner Completes 26-Mile Inca Trail - Dan Berlin became the first blind person to run the length of the 26- mile Inca Trail in Peru, according to a press release by travel company Intrepid Travel. With three teammates — Charles Scott, Alison Qualter Berna, and Brad Graff—Berlin finished the route to Machu Picchu in 13 hours..."

!How would you respond if you lost your vision? Would you decide to make history?

Blind Athlete Runs Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in 13 Hours: Dan Berlin became the first blind athlete to run the iconic trail in Peru in a single day...

Blind athlete Dan Berlin just took on and conquered the seemingly impossible—hiking the Inca Trail nonstop in less than a day.

"Con motivo de conmemorarse el Día Nacional de las personas con discapacidad, el Consejo Nacional de Integración de la Persona con Discapacidad (CONADIS) y el Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (UNICEF), organizaron un conversatorio entre el atleta norteamericano Dan Berlin y los niños y niñas del colegio Luis Braille en Comas."