The concept of Olsen's world run originated as a suggestion made in 2001 by Olsen to David Blaikie, who published it with an invitation for comments on his website ultramarathonworld.com. Olsen suggested that, without taking sides in then-current controversies in the ultra-running world, a professionally organized world run would be a "constructive" and "truly sportsman[like]" response to widespread ultrarunner community skepticism and discussion concerning Robert Garside's world run, which had been in progress since 1997 but was viewed with great skepticism by Blaikie and many ultra-runners and had not yet been authenticated by Guinness at the time.

The Long Walk for Leukodystrophy. On Thursday 31st March 2016, John began his walk from the very tip of Cape York. He initially walked to his base camp where he completed his preparation and setup before commencing the bulk of his walk on Sunday 3rd April.