Seeing as that we finished the run one whole month ago now, we have been asked a lot of different questions...“exactly how much money did you raise?” “How much do you miss being on the road?” “How often was Ben really on the phone for?” Strangely, the answer to each of those questions is “a lot”, however being one month older and wiser we can elaborate.
Firstly and perhaps most importantly, the fundraising side of things: Our original goal was to raise $35,000, but why this amount? In the very early planning stages of the run we visited the McGrath Foundation website and read (quite incorrectly) that it cost $35,000 to train and supply another regional breast care nurse to some remote part of Australia for three years. We thought it was cheap, but hey, we weren’t going to question it-we had that magic number of $35,000 in our heads and it stuck. Months later, when we to read over it again only to find we had failed to see an extra zero at the end of the number-it in fact costs $350,000 to train another nurse-we were left scratching our heads. But our magic number was set and $35,000 was the goal, even though we had mixed thoughts about whether we’d end up reaching the target.
In the end we smashed it! To cut a long story short the total money raised comes to $58,017.33 to be precise. Just over $30,000 of this came from online donations. Another few thousand was donated in cash while on the road-whether it was from motorists pulling over and handing over their hard earned, or when the Edge harassed people in pubs, Maccas or anywhere else for their money after telling them our story. Friends also helped us out in various ways by holding poker nights, pink school days, high teas, selling cupcakes and all sorts of different things to raise a few more thousand (thanks Dan, Sam, Bronwyn and Meagan respectively for those). And the remainder came from the super successful Charity Dinner at Gymea Tradies on the 16th July after we’d finished the run. Not only did it sell out the 400 seat capacity in record time but everyone was digging into their pockets the whole night-and that was even without the Edge shaking a bucket at anyone! The auctions raked in heaps and some of the staff even donated their wage for the night-awesome!
At the end of the day Benny, Joelo and I did the easy part and covered the distance, but if it wasn’t for the generosity of everyone who donated in any way shape or form (cash/donations, food, accommodation, sponsorship) we wouldn’t have raised anything, let alone $58,017.33 so a big thank you to all for being a the most important part of it!
Getting back into routine post-run has been strange. On one hand, it is nice knowing that we don’t have to run for days straight when our bodies are really screaming at us not to, and it’s also refreshing to just “be mates” with the boys-now when we get together we can talk about anything other than business. On the other hand (and this is a larger hand), the three of us are all very goal-orientated people and during the week after the run felt a little lost at not having some ridiculous adventure to work towards. Although I won’t miss the unbearable shooting pain in all parts of my lower body when I would just try to roll over in bed in each night, the dirty Hume, or having to clean everything after Joel’s manky hands had touched something, I will miss plenty of things about the run...our little family tucked inside Ruby each night when outside it’s below freezing, the beautiful backroads in country Victoria and the concept that our only daily goal was to get to the next point 40km+ down the road-we didn’t have to worry about anything else-it was strangely simple yet frustratingly difficult at the same time!
The boys would like to thank a few people, however since I’m sure I’m going to forget people (no offence if I do) I’ll keep it brief...
Carlee-to spend over two weeks waiting hand and foot over three whinging boys (two of whom you’d never met) was such a big effort and I’m glad you took some revenge on each night with those killer massages-you’re a machine!
Mark-you basically became our “manager” and I have no hesitation in saying we would not have done what we did without you. We thought you’d be there for the simple things like filling up our water and driving the van (which you did great by the way-the only ding in Ruby happened after you left), but it was all the other stuff that we probably took for granted that was amazing...organising free accommodation, ramping up donations everywhere, and saying the right words at the right times. “I don’t care if we get in at 10pm tonight or any night, that’s what I’m here for” I remember you saying around day 5...I know you meant those words but if we weren’t so athletically gifted and finished by around 3pm each day I would have loved to have tested you with them. You definitely gave us the Edge.
Sam, Jacki and Renee- Unlike Mark and Carlee, the girlfriends already knew all the bad habits of the boys, yet still came down to help us out and be there for us. Thank you for all you girls did, whether it was boring stuff like feeding us food, or combating boring stuff like spending a day on the dirty Hume by keeping us company!
Anyone’s floor we slept on while on the road (Steve & Laura, Mel & Stefan, the Bartletts and Paul & Elese)- as much as we loved rating the caravan park showers each night (average rating would be about a 4), having a nice house with home cooked food in it was a welcome change- thanks for your hospitality!
Anyone who helped us out with the function dinner or Cronulla finish-line events (Sam, Odette, Lyndal, Glenn, etc)
Anyone who joined us on the road for a day, cooked us meals to microwave, came to the finish line at Cronulla to cheer us home or came to the function dinner-these were all very important parts of the run for us and your support kept us strong!
Our sponsors-
Saucony- for supplying all our gear-we love it...we wore nothing but Saucony gear on the road and it was awesome-from shoes, to shorts, to jackets, everything...everyone go buy Saucony stuff!
GU- energy gels that we quick and easy on the road
Australian Sports Nutrition (ASN)- for all the protein and powders
Gymea Tradies- for the petrol vouchers and the function dinner
Geigerrig- Forget Camelbak- Joel Craddock uses a Geigerrig and that’s all I need to know to get me one!
Beat Medical- for financial support!
All in all, we reached both our goals-to run from Melbourne to Sydney, and to raise $35,000 for the McGrath Foundation. We had a third goal, which was to grow thick and manly lumberjack beards along our journey, however judging by the people’s reactions, whether we reached that goal or not is debatable. We had lots of fun doing it, and although we’ve got nothing planned yet, I’m sure Joel, Ben and I will all be looking for another challenge soon enough...
Cheers,
Nick
UPDATE 29th August: Today Ben, Joel and I met with Glenn McGrath to officially hand over the cheque for $58,017.33 to the McGrath Foundation. Our mates Glenn Gorick and Mal Butterfield were in attendance, along with a couple of politicians, and the Leader newspaper taking photos. It was great to meet the man himself and wrap up the event on a really positive note.
Glenn McGrath's reaction and disbelief when we told him that Ben had in fact grown partial facial hair
Glenn, Nick, Ben, Joel and one oversized cheque with $58,017.33 for the McGrath Foundation
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