MARATHON RUNNING
By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
SEVEN marathons. Seven states and territories. In seven days.
That is what Curtis Cooper put himself through at the beginning of July as he set out on this noble, yet in thought absurd, mission.
Cooper participated in the ‘777 Marathon’, an initiative from the Bravehearts foundation, an Australian not-for-profit dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse.
To have the honour of doing this, each of the 26 runners had to raise at least $11,000 for the organisation. Cooper raised more than $14,000 before he even leapt off the start line.
All-in-all over $700,000 was raised for the Bravehearts foundation across the period.
Having now completed what had him restless all week and took him through Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne Launceston, Sydney, Canberra, and finishing off at the 44th Gold Coast Marathon with over 100,000 people in attendance and taking part, Cooper said he wasn’t feeling too bad after the fact.
“People have said to me after I’ve finished, you know, ‘how’d you go? How’s the body feel?’ to be honest, it’s one of the most exciting and fun things I’ve done,” he said.
The former Morwell resident started long distance running in 2017, having completed five marathons and walked the Kokoda Track beforehand.
“I’ve run marathons prior to (this). One of those was last year in Canberra. I happened to be up there, my wife had a conference… I learnt a bit more about (the 777 Marathon) then and that’s when I decided to give the whole thing a go,” he said.
Cooper undertook six months of training in preparation for the momentous journey, including support from Bravehearts.
“I started about mid-January, that consisted of about three or four weeks of just pure strength work on the legs to try and reduce that lactic acid, and then I started about a five month, 20-week training program which is provided by Bravehearts, so we actually had doctors and physios actually travel with us the whole week… it all went pretty smoothly, it was obviously a bit strict to enable us to get through it,” he said.
The week consisted of an expected early start around 7am and runners (counting ring-ins from each state, about 100 to 200 people) had until 1.30pm to complete the 42 kilometre run, however Cooper said that most had it done hours early.
After one marathon, everyone would head straight back to their accommodation for a quick shower and then straight to the airport for the next destination. Rinse and repeat.
When you’re running nearly 300 kilometres across a week and dealing with all the other added baggage, it’s highly likely there will be some moments of doubt.
“Yeah, there was some tough ones. I would probably say Launceston day four, it was about -4 degrees when we started. We actually had to postpone the start because there was too much ice on the concrete,” Cooper said.
“I think Canberra, that was the stage when you start to drag your feet a little bit by then, so it was more mental than anything and it’s just like ‘keep moving forward, keep moving forward, it will finish eventually’, so that was the thinking there.”
Besides the support of Bravehearts and all its staff, Cooper can contribute his finish to three things.
Firstly, his friends and family.
“I was lucky enough, (in) pretty much every state, I had mates in Melbourne, I had my wife supporting me on the second half of the whole trip, she flew around with me, and I had people basically in every state who came and visited us… which was absolutely the thing that gets you through,” he said.
Secondly, those running beside him who Cooper said are now linked to him.
“I didn’t know any of them, and now I feel like I’ve met 25 new friends, and not just friends, almost family. You put yourself through such a test like that with other people and unless you’re in it it’s hard to explain just the grading task (it is), you know, the hugs, the caring that’s going on and just even running together, (for) kilometres just to help you get through and just talking about anything but what we’re doing, it was phenomenal,” he said.
“It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done and I don’t think it’ll be the last time I do it either, I think I’m pretty much signed up for next year already,” Cooper declared.
Cooper also had support locally from his dad, Neil, who rounded up some local business sponsorship for his run.
