Washington, DC - Ultramarathon legend Dean Karnazes will travel to Peru, January 6–15, as a U.S. Department of State Sports Envoy. Karnazes will engage Peruvian communities, including some of the country’s top runners, senior sports and youth officials, blind athletes, and indigenous people.

In Lima, Karnazes will share his expertise with the Pan American Games committee as it plans to host athletes and visitors from throughout the Americas in Lima in 2019. He will also volunteer in the “I’m Your Eyes” program to empower blind athletes, and support a sports program that uses athletics to help rehabilitate female prison inmates.

Karnazes will then travel to the cities of Huancayo and Cusco to share best practices with top Peruvian runners, many of whom are from indigenous communities and who train in high-altitude regions. In Cusco, he will also join runners of the Chaki Wayra program, which encourages underserved youth to pursue positive life goals through running. Additionally, Karnazes will speak at the Binational Centers in Lima, Huancayo, and Cusco.

This is the second time Karnazes has traveled on behalf of the State Department. In 2016, he ran an ultramarathon of 525 kilometers that traced the ancient Silk Road through Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan to mark the 25th anniversary of these countries’ independence from the Soviet Union.