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For Kristians Kārkliņš, walking more than 26,000 kilometres around the world is about more than entering the record books.
The Latvian long-distance walker says every step is also helping him manage his mental health, and he hopes the journey can help others struggling with theirs.
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Latvian long-distance walker Kristians Kārkliņš on his journey across Canada. Kārkliņš is walking more than 26,000 kilometres around the world says every step is also helping him manage his mental health. (Kristians Kārkliņš/Submitted)
Kārkliņš passed through Regina on Friday during the Canadian leg of his attempt to complete the fastest walk around the world.
“For the past 20 years, I would say, I do not want to be alive,” Kārkliņš said during an interview in Regina.
“So now 50,000, 60,000, 70,000, 80,000 steps a day makes me not care. It’s like my SSRI, but I have to put the legwork in.”
Kārkliņš, who is 12 years sober, said he returned to long-distance walking in 2020 and began noticing its effect on his well-being.
“I started walking long distances again, and I saw how it’s benefited my mental health,” he said. “Being outside 24/7, it balances the hormones. Doing an activity all day, it helps regulate your neurochemicals. So I’m doing what humans were built to do, basically. I’m naturally happy now.”
Kārkliņš is following the World Runners Association’s rules for a pedestrian circumnavigation. Those rules require participants to cover at least 26,232 kilometres, cross at least four continents from coast to coast and walk a minimum of 3,000 kilometres on each of those continents.
His current leg will take him about 5,300 kilometres from Vancouver to New York. Kārkliņš began that portion of the journey on July 17 and hopes to reach New York on Nov. 14, his birthday.
But the journey began months earlier and on the other side of the world.
Kārkliņš set out from Perth, Australia, on March 29 and walked roughly 4,200 kilometres to Sydney in 86 days. He took two rest days, averaging close to 50 kilometres a day, to complete the crossing before his three-month visa expired.
He then walked another 450 kilometres in New Zealand before flying to Vancouver.
Australia’s isolated stretches required careful planning. During one roughly 1,200-kilometre section, Kārkliņš arranged for someone to leave food for him at five roadhouses along the route.
“There are no grocery stores. There are just, like, nine roadhouses with motels,” he said.
“I liked that part the best because you don’t have to make any decisions. There are no stores, no towns, no nothing. You just do what you have to do.”
Despite walking across Australia, Kārkliņš said the heat on the Prairies has presented a greater challenge.
“Canada’s hotter,” he said.
His equipment is packed inside a multisport stroller that he pushes along the highway. It carries what he needs to camp when a place to stay is unavailable.
Kārkliņš said strangers have regularly offered food, shelter and other help after spotting him on the road or learning about his journey online.
“People are awesome, always helping me out on my way because I have this huge thing behind me,” he said.
Latvian long-distance walker Kristians Kārkliņš travels through the Rocky Mountains on his journey across Canada. (Kristians Kārkliņš/Submitted)
A Reddit post seeking somewhere to sleep in Calgary received more than 100,000 views and led to offers of accommodation in communities farther along his route. In Regina, he was offered a couch for the night.
His first look at the city came as he entered along College Avenue.
“I saw the great architecture,” Kārkliņš said. “The lake or the pond you have there, nice private houses over there. I like the architecture.”
He planned to buy groceries before walking at least another 40 kilometres east of Regina. If he could not find another couch, he expected to pitch his tent near the side of the road.
While the physical toll is significant, Kārkliņš said deciding to begin was the most difficult part.
“The starting was the hardest part,” he said. “On the night before starting in Perth, I almost quit two times before even starting.”
During the first few weeks, he found himself thinking of reasons to abandon the attempt.
“But the more I did, the more I wanted to keep on going,” he said.
After reaching New York, Kārkliņš plans to fly to Chile and walk about 3,000 kilometres through Chile and Argentina, finishing that leg in Buenos Aires. He may then add another 1,000 kilometres in Morocco before continuing through Europe and eventually finishing in Istanbul.
Kārkliņš is also using the journey to raise money for Campaign Against Living Miserably, commonly known as CALM. The United Kingdom organization describes itself as a suicide-prevention charity that provides practical mental-health support and services to people who need them.
“Number one, I’m doing this for my mental health,” Kārkliņš said. “Number two, I found a niche and I found a thing I can do except go in circles. I could go for a world record.
“And number three, I’m also trying to raise funds for a mental-health and suicide-prevention charity.”
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