PENOLA is now home to a pending world record and two inspiring athletes, after Kate and Justin McDonald put their bodies through 11 weeks of torture, sore muscles and tiredness to achieve their incredible goal.
The couple completed a half marathon every day for 77 days and covered a total distance of 1647.8km, aiming for a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
But they also had a bigger goal in mind, with the record attempt undertaken for a worthy cause.
The Love Mercy Foundation is an organisation focused on the restoration of Northern Uganda communities as they attempt to overcome the poverty caused by war in the country.
The foundation was fitting for Kate and Justin’s journey, as Ugandan women and children must travel a similar distance as they did every day to collect water.
The Penola power couple are proud of their personal accomplishment, which saw them with a combined total running time of about 317 hours.
Had they been moving along each day instead of running the same circuit, they could have reached a point 50km north of Port Macquarie in New South Wales, or be as far as the Northern Territory border, 300km short of Ayers Rock.
Despite this impressive achievement, they said it is the change they will make to people’s lives overseas which is the most rewarding.
“We are proud of ourselves, but the longer it went on the less it became about the record for us,” Justin said.
“The further it went on, the more it became about the fund-raising and making a change in people’s lives in Northern Uganda.”
To begin with the $6000 target was worrying, but with backing from the Penola community and around Australia, as well as some international donations, the target has been smashed.
At the time of print the couple had raised $6598, while an addition amount of almost $1000 was raised at a lunch held at Raidis Estate on Sunday, which saw 50-60 people from the community attend.
“We raised a fair bit of money with the community here in Penola,” Justin said.
“Because we shared it on Instagram and Facebook, we also got a lot of money from around the rest of Australia – maybe $2000-$3000 came from outside of the community.
“Then we have had several hundred dollars from overseas as well.”
The $6000 will allow for a well to be built in a Northern Ugandan community, while every $250 over the target will go towards repairing an additional well.
“Although we will pay for one brand new well, we could be fixing another four or five, which is really cool,” Justin said.
It is the reality of what their donation will achieve which makes the accomplishment all the more fulfilling.
“Australian Olympian Eloise Wellings and ex Ugandan Olympian Julius Achon – they are co-founders of the foundation – sent us a video on Monday to thank us for what we have done,” Justin said.
“It is nice to raise money for a smaller foundation you know is making a change.
“You know it is not going towards someone’s Audi repayments.”
The support received through social media is something they never expected, as their journey was followed by many over the 77 days.
It was that support, paired with the fund-raising which kept the two focused on their goal and helped them through the tough days.
Since completing their record attempt on Sunday, Kate and Justin have returned to their routine of 10km a day, which they have maintained since the start of January this year.
That evolved from their initial 5km-a-day challenge, which they have now upheld for an impressive 905 days.
The process of approving the record will take some time, but the couple are quietly confident they have met all the requirements.
“At the moment we have unofficially done it,” Justin said.
“We will have to submit all of the evidence – that will take us up to two weeks to gather.
“Then we will email that off and I think it could take up to eight weeks before we hear back from them.
“We are quietly confident we have ticked all the boxes we need to, now we just have to wait and see.”
As weird as it sounds, Justin said the last few weeks of the challenge became easier as they tackled the 21km distance every day.
“It probably got easier, which might sound bizarre,” he said.
“Physically we could keep going, but time-wise we really do not want to.
“It takes a lot of time out of the day and it makes you tired.
“We get to give our time back to our kids now.”
Kate and Justin were joined by a group of runners and cyclists for their final leg on Sunday, while they thanked those who supported them throughout their journey.
“We are grateful for all the support from the local community, specifically the many that waved, tooted, whistled and yelled out words of encouragement over the last 77 days,” Kate said.
“We would also like to thank Brian and Luca Wagner and Jen McCulloch who were regular running companions for us.
“Their company really helped to tick the kilometres over.
“And a huge thank you goes to Chris and Fran from Raidis Estate for their support and hosting the fund-raising lunch on our final day and the generous cooks who donated delicious home-made stews for lunch.
“Because of them we were able to raise almost another $1000.”
Kate and Justin look forward to the soreness which has become “the new normal” to fade away over the coming days and now wait to hear confirmation of their record attempt.
