PENOLA A Grade footballer Daniel Hackwill will run 100km in an effort to raise funds for drought relief next month.
Hackwill, who said the struggles Australian farmers are facing at the moment hits close to home, saw the marathon as a good way to give back to those doing it tough.
“I grew up in Edenhope,” he said.
“When I was a really little kid it was good, the lake was full and the town was really busy.
“Then we had the drought hit down here and the lake emptied and everyone around town sort of struggled.
“I have seen what droughts can do and it is pretty easy to forget sometimes, while our grass is green and we have had a lot of rain.”
He said it is important to remember there are others out there facing hardship and the run is his way of helping out and raising money towards the cause.
“There are a lot of people still really struggling through it,” Hackwill said.
“So hopefully I can raise a bit of money.
“My wife Kirsty, her parents are both on the farm as well, so there a couple of causes fairly close to the heart.”
There has been a lot of discussion around drought relief lately.
But Hackwill said it is one thing to talk about it and another to turn your words into action.
“It is all well and good to say you are going to do things, or say things should be done,” Hackwill said.
“But until you start doing them yourself you cannot really say that much I do not think.”
Hackwill will not be alone on the run, which will start in Penola and head to Millicent, before the final 50km leg from Millicent to Mount Gambier.
“My wife Kirsty will hop on the bike and ride it with me,” he said.
“She is going to be the support crew.”
He hopes to complete the 100km distance somewhere between 10 to 12 hours, with a break in Millicent at the halfway point.
“We are hoping to get rolling at Penola at about 5am in the morning and roll into Millicent around lunch time and stop for a while,” Hackwill said.
“Then hopefully I will have about six or seven hours up my sleeve to get from Millicent to Mount Gambier.
“I think the legs are going to be pretty heavy by then.
“It could be a long 50km.”
As the sort of person who avoids the spotlight where he can, Hackwill said the experience has put him in a “weird situation”.
“As a rule I do not like a whole lot of attention on me,” he said.
“But it is a bit of a catch-22 though, because the more attention it gets, the more people are going to get behind it and support it.”
Hackwill has been surprised by the support he has already received.
“It was actually Kirsty who sort of come up with the idea,” he said.
“When we decided we were going to do it, we thought it was going to be something only people from Penola would get behind.
“But we have had people from Naracoorte, Millicent and Mount Gambier talking to us about it.
“It has gone a bit bigger than I thought it would.”
This exposure is something Hackwill is pleased with, as the more people who know about it, the more who may donate to the cause.
“At the end of the day it is not about me, it is about raising some money and some awareness for people who are doing it fairly tough at the minute,” he said.
Hackwill has never run this distance before, with the closest being the Melbourne marathon, which he completed a couple of years ago.
“That is only 42km, so this is a little bit further,” he said.
Hackwill will complete the run on Saturday, November 17 and hopes to reach his target of $5000.
