Inspired man runs 100km in hotel quarantine for charity
A 26-year-old man has raised more than $6000 for mental health services by running 100 kilometres in one day while in hotel quarantine.
Joel Dawson, who works on wind farms building turbines, has been working on and off in regional Victoria for 18 months before making the trip home to Sydney last Sunday.
Although he was due to receive an exemption because he’s a critical worker, Mr Dawson told Yahoo News Australia on Thursday it never arrived and he is in his final countdown of the mandatory two-weeks quarantine.
With some extra time on his hands, the 26-year-old said he decided to do something useful with himself and set a target of completing 100kms with the hope of raise $500 for the Black Dog Institute, a medical research group that investigates mental health.
“I’ve got nothing better to do than raise money for mental health,” he posted on Facebook with a link to his GoFundMe.
“Anyone that sees this, if you donate $1 it will make a massive difference.”
Mr Dawson said he woke up at 4.30am on Wednesday to give himself plenty of time and live-streamed himself chucking 10,000 laps of his hotel room.
He said he took a brief lunch break to eat and take a coronavirus test and finished around 9.30pm.
He said running on the concrete floor hurt more than he thought it would, but he was excited to have raised much more money than he thought he could.
As of Friday afternoon, the GoFundMe had raised $6,065.
Mr Dawson said he chose Black Dog Institute because one of his friends took his own life this year, and the pandemic had caused so many to struggle.
“There are a lot of people around me going through a hard time,” he said.
“Everywhere you look, everyone is battling at the moment.”
Mr Dawson announce this achievement on Facebook, saying he would never had imagined this happening at the beginning of the year.
“But as we all know, this year has certainly been one of embracing change and resilience so it felt like a fitting challenge,” he said.
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