RUNNING
BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
FOR many, the completion of one marathon is enough to bring with it self-pride.
Try doing 52 marathons – one per week for a whole year.
Curtis Cooper ticked off that monster milestone of 52 in 52 last month, when passing the finish line at the first leg of the Bravehearts 777 in Perth.
Cooper would then go on to complete a further six marathons across to raise more money for the prevention of child sexual abuse.
Speaking to the Express in the week leading into the realisation of his year-long odyssey, the former Morwell resident and Express journalist (1996-2003) was unsure of his emotions once the achievement was completed.
“I don’t think it’ll dawn on me for a little while to be honest,” he said.
“I actually won’t have a lot of time to dwell on it, which is good, because I’m finishing on day one of the ‘777’, so I’m then travelling six days with the national team around the country.”
An avid runner for the past decade, Cooper first took on the Bravehearts Foundation 777 Marathon in 2024, which sets participants on seven marathons in seven days across seven states.
This experience left an impression on Cooper, hearing of victim’s stories and the trauma attached to these heinous crimes, which inspired him to lend his support.
“There’s only about 30 national runners each year who get the opportunity to do it through raising funds for the charity, and I met a lot of people that week that I thought would just be a sort of crazy collection of athletes trying to do crazy things, but it was actually a lot of adult victims, survivors of sexual abuse, a lot of frontline police,” Cooper said.
“I haven’t gone through any trauma of that nature, and (it was) incredibly inspiring for me that those people who had gone through it (and) were willing to go and put themselves on the line like that for that week.”
Cooper got in touch with Bravehearts about his giant goal, with the charity excited about the prospects.
The 2025 Bravehearts 777 Marathon acted as the first leg of his 52 marathon journey, running in every state as well as in the ACT and finishing at the Gold Coast Marathon. Key events have followed in the Melbourne Marathon, the Run Huskisson coastal marathon in New South Wales, and the Burnie 10 in Tasmania.
Cooper also competed in the Sydney Marathon – the first year of it being deemed a world major event – and ran alongside the likes of Olympic marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge.
During all of these ventures, Cooper was fronted with even more individuals – family, friends and strangers – affected by sexual abuse.
“I spoke in a room before the Burnie 10 … and there was five Australian Olympians in the room, so that was a pretty big highlight, but probably wasn’t all of it,” Cooper said.
“I went to sit down and a pretty well-hardened guy just came up to me and shook my hand, burst into tears.
“He was a 30-year veteran police officer and he just wanted to thank me for what I was doing and tell me that it’s a real problem.
“There’s been a lot of moments like that … it’s been overwhelming at times, but it just tells me what I’m doing is exactly the right thing and exactly what I should be doing.”
Through his friendship with inspirational runner Peter Baines, Cooper was able to engage running coach Matty Abel.
Abel, who helped train ultramarathon athlete Nedd Brockmann during his 1600km run for mental health and homelessness, helped shape the extensive training and conditioning for Cooper.
“He’s been incredible. It’s been a learning curve for us because a lot of things he trained Nedd for were kind of consecutive days, whereas this was one per week over a very long period,” Cooper said.
“It just wasn’t a streamlined process, but we trained for a couple of months before I started the 777.
“I was reasonably fit, but he really conditioned my strength and sort of tried to build me so I wouldn’t break.”
The fluid program afforded Cooper breaks when required, such as a strained calf in January, allowing him to get his body right to solider on.
For himself, the impact was not only physically.
A majority of Cooper’s marathon runs needed to be completed close to home on his local trails, due to not being able to throw his personal and work life to the side.
This meant for a bulk of the time, Cooper was putting one foot in front of the other with nothing but his own mind at play.
“You’re out there for four to four-and-a-half hours on your own, and that’s every week (of) that being in your head a lot,” he said.
“There was never a doubt I wouldn’t do it … just putting pressure on myself in terms of feeling like I wasn’t raising enough money or awareness or doing enough when, of course, that wasn’t the reality at all.
“For some reason, you put yourself in some tough places, whether you’re doing this or not, so it certainly made me a lot more resilient as a person.”
Cooper’s 51st run ended up being the Traralgon Marathon, returning to his home region, completing the time-honoured event in four hours and three minutes.
Coming down the final stretch, Cooper was seen pumping his fists in the air and letting out plenty of roars, knowing he was now one step away from finishing it all.
“I’ll keep it pretty low key as much as I can, but that one I knew for probably 10 weeks … and I thought if I can get through Traralgon, where I want to be, then I’ve got it done,” he said.
“I knew that if I got through unscathed throughout I’m going to get it done, so that’s why I was pretty pumped.”
In crossing the finish line at the Glengarry Recreation Reserve, Cooper quickly embraced his mother and father waiting idly by for the last few hours.
By that point, he knew that even if he was completely broken, nothing was going to stop him from getting to number 52.
Once finished, which is actually extended with six extra marathons through the final Bravehearts 777, Cooper said he is committed to advocating in this space through running initiatives for as long as he can.
“Part of the reason I started running marathons was to show my son if there’s something you want to achieve in life and you’re willing to commit to time and the work, nothing’s out of your reach, absolutely nothing,” he said.
“I’ve obviously proved that to myself with this … hopefully to inspire others to either put the runners on or just to find something they’re passionate about and get stuck in and start building towards goals that they want to achieve in life, because there’s nothing stopping you.”
Before moving away from the Latrobe Valley, Cooper was an affective local footballer for Morwell and Traralgon Tyers United – a part of the Bombers’ 2004 North Gippsland senior premiership.
Cooper is close to his $52,000 fundraising goal for Bravehearts, and you can donate here: fundraise.bravehearts.org.au/52-in-52
