Photos show: Jack after collecting his winner's medal at the Stromlo Marathon in Canberra on Saturday, in October; pounding through the red sand of the Australian Outback Marathon at Uluru in July, dubbed by ‘Runner’s World’ magazine as one of the top 50 marathons in the world; and the winding route of the Stromlo Marathon, in forest near the nation's capital city of Canberra.
Reluctant runner Jack Hewitt completed the last of his Eight for A Mate marathons in Australia on Saturday – totally breaking through his £20,000 fundraising target for the ME Association and ME/CFS Australia.
Jack completed the Stromlo Marathon in a forest just outside the nation’s capital, Canberra, in four hours 10 minutes– the final chapter in a round-Australia tour that has taken him to every state and territory of the vast continent in the past 11 months.
“I’m definitely not a natural runner and wouldn’t have even have thought of doing something like this a few years ago,” he told us.
“But I did this for my best friend Freddie, who I met at university in England and has now been very severely affected by ME/CFS for some years. We played a bit of football and tennis and ran a bit, but nothing like this. But I’m very goals-oriented and took on this challenge to raise awareness for the millions of people round the world who are suffering like Freddie.”
Jack, now working as a TV researcher in Sydney, moved to Oz at the beginning of last year. He took on the challenge after being utterly shocked by the condition in which he found Freddie when he returned to Britain to pay him a visit in June last year. Freddie is receiving round-the-clock nursing at his home in Buckinghamshire.
Jack survived an injury to his left foot early on which put him out of action for weeks and then, as he caught up with lost time, crowding three marathons into the space of four weeks.
He’s now taking a break from running marathons but is looking forward to seeing his English family in Cape Town, South Africa, next March where they’ve booked themselves in for the 109km Cape Town Cycle Tour, one of the world’s most scenic sporting events.
And he may be back with another charity challenge for ME/CFS at some point in the future.
At the moment, he fancies taking on a series of triathlons – that fiercesome triad of events which involve big cycling, swimming and, yes, running challenges all in the space of a few hours. But nothing’s fixed in stone just yet.
You can read Jack's personal tribute to Freddie here.
If you would like to donate to Jack’s Eight for a Mate challenge for the ME Association and help him round up what’s already there, please visit:
Jack's ‘Eight for a mate' Marathon!
Fundraising for ME Association
To support ME/CFS Australia, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/mecfsmarathonsaus
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Volunteer, The ME Association
fundraising@meassociation.org.uk
