Sir Edmund Hillary, on why he wanted to be the first man to climb Everest said, "Because it is there."

Norma Bastidas, a Calgary-based ultra-marathon runner and mother of two has become the first person in history to run seven gruelling ultra-marathons on seven continents in seven months.

Bastidas will now win a place in the Guinness Book of World Records – but that’s not her main motivation.

She created the 777 Run for Sight as the challenge of challenges, to raise awareness and money for people like her son and those around the world with blindness and vision impairment which, in many cases, is preventable.

Bastidas wanted to communicate how lucky we are in Canada to have the gift of sight and to share our good fortune with others who aren’t so lucky.

Her inspiration to help people with vision loss comes from her son Karl, 14, who was diagnosed with cone-rod dystrophy, a progressive condition that often leads to significant vision loss. While there is currently no cure for her son’s condition, Bastidas was astounded to learn that at least 75 per cent of the world’s blindness is either preventable or treatable. Ninety per cent of the world’s blindness occurs in the developing world, and is largely a result of poverty and lack of basic public services. "People go blind with preventable blindness just because they can’t afford the medicine or there’s not a doctor available or from lack of clean water," said Bastidas. "As a parent I found it unacceptable."

Beginning in January, her challenge took her to Brazil, the Antarctic, the Arctic, Australia, Namibia, China and Switzerland. These ultra-marathons, often 250 km or longer, saw Bastidas go through 14 pairs of running shoes, 49 pairs of socks and she also lost seven toe nails along the way.

Bastidas next challenge is to take on the seven highest peaks on seven continents in seven months, beginning March 2010. Why? She explained, seeing my son on my return to Calgary made me realize I have more work to do to raise awareness on blindness. I want to be the fastest woman to conquer these mountains and beat the record for a female climber and raise the money to make a difference.

Her goal for the 777 Run for Sight was $100,000, but she’s now raised $140,000 to be shared amongst three charities fighting blindness including Operation Eyesight Universal.

Operation Eyesight is an International development organization based in Calgary dedicated to preventing and treating blindness throughout the world. Since 1963, Operation Eyesight has helped restore sight to more than two million people and provided blindness prevention for nearly 33 million others. The other two organizations are Foundation Fighting Blindness and the CNIB.

For more information, visit www.operationeyesight.ca.