Think Great Walks and most people think of a pleasant multi-day stroll with plenty of time to take in the pristine mountain scenery. Or maybe they'd think of running one of them as a race. But who'd think of running SEVEN of them back to back over the course of just seven days? Until now nobody, because it's never been done before ("no surprise there" I hear you say). Well, all that's about to change....
This rather daft individual has decided to dedicate 2009 to the achievement of this very goal. In a venture dubbed the Mizone 7in7 Challenge, Mal (a competitor in many ARC events over the years) aims to run Waikaremoana, Tongariro N.Circuit, Abel Tasman, Heaphy, Routeburn, Milford and Kepler tracks in seven CONSECUTIVE days. That's 360km of off-road running and [the equivalent of] almost 2 ascents of Mt. Cook.
The obvious question might be Why? Well, apart from the obvious reason - "because they're there" - Mal has another, much bigger motivation. He aims to raise at least $50,000 for the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation NZ. This charity has been chosen because his own brother, Alan, died of this horrible disease when aged just 13. In New Zealand 6 people a day are diagnosed with some form of blood cancer and Mal has long wanted to "do something amazing to help people suffering from this awful illness". Now his chance has come.
Check out the Challenge website: www.7in7.org.nz
And if you are inspired by this madness then please:
- Tell others about the 7in7 Challenge
- Sponsor Mal (everybody making a donation becomes a Friend of the Challenge and goes into a monthly prize draw to win some cool prizes)
- Or even join in the fun - there are spare places on the runs which will be auctioned on Trademe (all proceeds to the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation NZ)
