Ted McDonald, known as Barefoot Ted and the eccentric character in the bestseller book, Born to Run, will land in New Zealand this week to discuss the joys of barefoot running with the Kiwi running community.
Barefoot Ted is one of the global running celebrities attending RunFest, a grassroots trail-running festival organised by a group of amateur runners in the capital.
He first became famous by being one of the characters in what is arguably the most famous book about running, Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. But Barefoot Ted has gained more and more popularity as the barefoot running movement has grown over the years.
He will be joined by Jono Wyatt, New Zealander and six-time world mountain-running champion, who will be sharing some of his secrets to running hills, Sally McRae, a pro trail runner for Nike, and US ultrarunner and filmmaker Billy Yang.
With trail running growing in popularity, the Wellington Running Meetup group - an informal running group of amateur runners - decided to create the event to inspire others to embrace the sport and the outdoors lifestyle.