An Australian water activist, who plans to run 100 marathons in 100 days, has run through Kingston yesterday.

Mina Guli, 48, founder of a water conservation think tank called Thirst, plans to run 2,620 miles in 100 days across six continents to highlight the world’s looming water crisis.

Ms Guli ran 26 miles yesterday (November 6) from the Thames Path to Richmond, through Kingston and parts of Surrey before catching a train to Paris for her next marathon.

Ms Guli said: “The Running Dry challenge is a global call to arms to individuals and organisations to work together to save water.

“The water upon which we all rely to live and survive is running out. The challenge is called Running Dry as we need to shock people into action by demonstrating the severity of the issue.

“We can all help to solve the world’s water crisis and my message is that individually and collectively, we can all make a difference.”

According to the United Nations, the world will see a 40 percent shortfall between supply and global demand of fresh water by 2030.

The World Economic Forum ranked the water crisis in 2015 as the single biggest threat facing the planet over the next 10 years.

As part of the Running Dry challenge, Ms Guli will be travelling to countries around the world such as Uzbekistan, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Chile, and Peru.

Ms Guli is no stranger to extreme challenges. Last year, she ran 40 marathons in 40 days along the world’s great rivers.

In 2016, she completed another 40 marathons across 7 deserts in 7 weeks.

Ms Guli said: “I have carried out a series of global running challenges, but nothing on this scale.

“I decided to run 100 marathons in 100 days to showcase that it is only through 100 percent commitment that we will make the changes we need to avoid a major humanitarian crisis.”