Gurkha ready for South West run
As someone whose job once required him to stand painfully still for hours waiting to salute the prime minister, Kiran Gurung is used to a challenge.
So when the 37-year-old spends 14 hours a day willing himself to run the 200km ahead, he will draw on the steely discipline and patience he learnt as a Gurkha soldier.
Mr Gurung, who left his Singapore base for WA in 2008, is wearing full military fatigues for a run he started yesterday from Bunbury's Anzac Park in recognition of the 200th anniversary of Gurkha service and the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.
His 200km journey along South Western Highway will end at Kings Park just in time for him to arrive at the Anzac Day dawn service tomorrow.
"It is challenging - and people think I'm mad, including my wife - but the pain when I'm doing this run, if you compare that to what these soldiers would have gone through in the trenches, it's nothing," Mr Gurung said.
He is being aided by his former Gurkha captain Ian Blevin, who is driving alongside him with water supplies. Mr Gurung's "200" campaign has support from around the world and helped raise more than $6000 for the Gurkha Welfare Trust, which supports former servicemen.
Mr Gurung, who works as a trades assistant, never repeats a challenge and, when competing in the HBF Run for a Reason 21km leg on May 24, will add a 21kg weight to his backpack.
"That's one of the things the instructors try to do, make it as memorable as possible," he said.
The run will raise money for Diabetes WA in honour of his grandfather, who was a Ghurkha in World War II and had the condition.
Register at hbfrun.com.au
