TOM HAYES
RUNNING
By TOM HAYES
RUNNING for a cause is Traralgon local, Blake Bourne, as he attempts to not only break a world record, but raise thousands of dollars for charity in the meantime.
Last week, Bourne announced his world record attempt which will take place at the start of August, to run across the Simpson Desert.
“On August 3rd I’m attempting to break the world record for the fastest person to cross the Simpson Desert on foot,” Bourne said.
“I’ll be running 380 kilometres, from one side to the other, in less than three days and eight hours.”
The current record is held by Pat Farmer, who ran 379 kilometres in three days, eight hours and 36 minutes, back in 1998.
Bourne is a determined individual, seen in his previous projects.
He begun a boxing career, which is now on hold for this endeavour, as well as owning and operating Blake Bourne Photography.
Many factors have contributed to Bourne’s hunger to do this world record attempt.
“Just to challenge myself, a goal to work towards gives me a reason to wake up each morning,” Bourne said.
“What I’m doing this run for is to raise money for Black Dog Institute.”
The Black Dog Institute is a not-for-profit facility for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mood disorders such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
“I’ve been through a few mental health battles myself,” Bourne said.
“I’ve seen mates go through the same thing and watched mates lose people to suicide
“The impact and seeing how it affect their lives, I don’t want anyone else to go through that pain, so I’m doing this to hopefully spark some change and bring those numbers back down because they’re not looking good.”
On the journey with him will be a small group of three, including himself.
“My dad will be driving – he’ll be the support vehicle and have food and water, and then I’ll have a videographer…to come along and record it,” he said.
The conditions of the Simpson Desert can be unforgiving; temperatures can range from extremely high to extremely low and the terrain is mostly sandy which is hard to train for.
“I’m expecting to burn around 15,000 calories a day, so I’ll be just trying to get in as much food as I possibly can,” Bourne said.
“Obviously it’s going to be a challenge to get in that much food.”
With the calorie deficit that Bourne is facing, he is expecting to lose anywhere between 10-20 kilograms during the run.
Bourne has been training with marathon runner and online running coach, Sean Bowes, who has provided Bourne with a week-by-week schedule to continue to progress.
“Training is good at the moment, at the moment I’m doing one long run a week, and my kilometres are increasing by two (kilometres) every week,” Bourne said.
“So at the moment I’m up to 40 (kilometres) and then at the end of this month I’ll be doing two long runs, so two 50-kilometre runs.
“I’ll peak in July, do three 100-kilometre runs, back-to-back-to-back, and then leave at the end of July.
“For my run I’ll be doing 120 kilometres a day for three and a bit days.”
For now, Bourne will be continuing to ramp up his training, slowly doing longer runs as he edges closer to August.
To learn more information about Bourne and his run, go to blakesbigredrun.com which goes into more detail.
Donation information is also on the website, where you can contribute to Bourne’s $38,000 goal – $100 for every kilometre ran.
“100 per cent of the donations go to the Black Dog Institute,” Bourne said.
Lacing up: Blake Bourne will be running across the Simpson desert, beginning on August 3.
