So we all know how completely messed up the Aussie bushfires are. Lives and property lost, environment decimated, animals and potentially entire species gone forever. We’re all doing what we can in our own way, at whatever level we can. I know we’re all being bombarded with fundraisers left, right and centre and there’s only so much we can do, but if you’re still wondering what else you can do and you’re into running and general fitness type stuff, I’ve chucked this little list together of things you might consider getting in on.
1. Relief Run.
Put together by my beautiful friend Samantha Gash, it’s a virtual run, but with some real world events in Australian and beyond, that you can join in on. I’ll be at the Murray Bridge Relief Run on the 18th of Jan at 6pm so if you want to come run that one with me that’d be awesome. See you there!
This one isn’t running, but Sophie Guidolin is originally an Adelaide girl I worked with many years ago, she’s already done two massive fundraisers raising a million dollars, and now she’s doing a bootcamp here in Adelaide on 18th Jan at 7am to raise even more.
3. Jess Trengove fundraising at Pakapakanthi parkrun.
Olympic Marathon runner Jess Trengove and her lovey family, Dylan & Jack, will be at Pakapakanthi on Saturday 11th at 8am to raise money for the CFS Foundation and the Kangaroo Island Mayoral Relief and Recovery Bushfire Fund. There will be representatives from Loebethal CFS taking cash donations on the day and Jess has arranged some pretty epic prizes for a raffle – see details on her post below.
4. Victorian Trail Runners Raffle
The race directors of Victorian trail running have come together to donate entries into their events with the aim of raising money for the CFA Public Fund, which funds volunteer leadership and development training. First prize is entry to FIVE races from a pretty epic list of events including Adventurethon, Buffalo Stampede, GOW100, Mt Buller SkyRu, Two Bays and Wonderland.
5. Run Down Under/Lucy Bartholomew @ Razorback Raffle
Lucy Bartholomew isn’t just an incredible trial runner, she’s an incredible human. So of course she’s in on the fundraising action as well. The prize for this one is race entry to Razorback Run on March 14 PLUS flights, car hire and meet and greet and dinner with Lucy herself. Tickets are only $20. They should be $2,000.
6. Kangaroo Island Marathon 2021
Not a fundraiser as such, but the KI Marathon has just announced that after a break this year, they’ll be back in 2021 (May 1) and it’s really, really, really important to note places like Kangaroo Island that rely on tourism, will need all the support they can get when the fires are over and the rebuild begins. The Visitor’s Centre where the race starts and finishes and where this photo was taken just four months ago is now gone, along with most of the vegetation around the course, the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Retreat that is the official accommodation for the race has been totally destroyed, and the Western KI Caravan park where I stay every year took a significant hit – including the amazing owners Mark and Fiona who lost their house as well as their only just opened brand new front office. So put this one in your calendar for 2021, and in the meantime, please keep in mind parts of the island are still open to tourism so even though some of the main attractions are closed and will be for a little while yet, the island still desperately needs visitors. As do other parts of Australia. So as they become safe to visit again, whether it’s for a race or just for a break, please consider going, and go with an empty esky.
7. Turia Pitt’s Spend With Them
OK, this one isn’t specifically for runners either, but I know we all love Turia and she’s helped set up Spend With Them – an Instagram page that promotes businesses affected by the bushfires. So it’s definitely worth checking out.
8. Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park Koala Run
It’s estimated up to half the island’s population of koalas have been killed and the Wildlife Park over there is doing an amazing job of helping out so proceeds from this run goes towards that amazing cause. It’s a 5kms walk/run at Largs Jetty in South Australia at 8am on January 19 (it’s a Sunday so it won’t take you away from parkrun!) and it’s being put on by the people who bring you the Bravehearts coastal runs. They say it’s gold coin donation on the day but don’t be afraid to kick in a fiver or more.
9. Simpson Desert Ultra Half Entry Fee Donated.
The Simpson Desert Ultra is one of Australia’s newest ultra marathons taking place in the heart of the Australian Outback, with distances of 160km, 80km, 42km & 20km. They have decided to donate 50% of the registration fees taken in from now until the end of January to the bushfire appeal. The funds raised will be split equally between the Australian Red Cross & WIRES. So if you were planning on doing that race, now’s the time to enter.
10. CFS Movie Night
Our very own Wedny Janssens has arranged a pretty great movie night fundraiser at Rhino Room in Adelaide on Wednesday January 22 and the film looks amazing (see trailer above) and will be of much interest to runners. There’ll also a be a raffle with some pretty great prizes with race entries and running gear up for grabs. A quick bit about the film: “Chen Yen-Po is a famous Taiwanese ultra-marathon athlete, who became the first ever Asian athlete to complete the 4 Deserts Race Series and achieved the title of World Champion, in 2016. The documentary “Run for Dream” records Chen Yen-Po’s exciting yet treacherous ten-year journey to become the champion.”
11. Run for our Wildlife.
Millions of our native animals have been killed or injured in the Australian wildfires that still ravage our National Parks, alpine country & communities. ON SUNDAY 12TH JANUARY RUN FOR OUR WILDLIFE – All you need to do is go for a run. Grab your friends, join a local event, find a trail, or run along a winding road to somewhere beautiful. After your run, share your adventure with our entire running community using #runforwildlife #playwilder then donate funds to NSW Wildlife Information & Rescue. Collectively, can we raise over $10,000 for our native wildlife?
If you know of any more I should add to the list, just give me a shout and I’ll do my best to get my little list updated ASAP.
