100 kilometers without shoes: In August 2007, Gerald Struwig, a Continental employee from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, ran barefoot from coast to coast. For every kilometer covered, Continental Tyre South Africa donated a pair of shoes for a needy child.

“In preparing for the run, I often jogged past kids from the slums. I noticed that they were wearing beat-up shoes or none at all. And so I decided to enter this coastal run not for myself but as a kind of charity event," says Struwig. “Never in my whole life have I experienced such a hard day. My feet hurt the whole way, but I knew that every step was a step for a good cause,” he adds, summing up the run.