An absolute legend of a bloke has just finished the achievement of a lifetime - running the entire 3800km across Australia in 46 days, all in the name of charity.
Nedd Brockmann, an electrician from New South Wales, set out from Cottesloe Beach on the first of September this year and arrived at Bondi Beach yesterday, completing a Herculean effort over a month and a half.
Brockmann arrived at Bondi Beach to a welcome fit for a triumphant king. A massive crowd of supporters were there to cheer him over the finish line; he received an indigenous smoking ceremony; got to hold a big ol’ cheque; and then smashed back a shoey, much to the pleasure of those watching.
Check out his full reception at Bondi below (shoey happens around 16:20 into this clip).
Unsurprisingly, the super-duper-ultra-marathon was not all smooth sailing. Nedd suffered a number of injuries which stopped him from breaking the world record for the fastest run across Australia (40 days) and even told 7 News that he had a little friend come out of his toe at one point.
“A little maggot started wriggling out of my toe, and I questioned my life choices at that point,” he said.
Brockmann set out on the journey to raise money for Mobilise - a charity that aims “to develop solutions for those experiencing homelessness.” The 23-year-old chose this particular cause after moving to Sydney from the rural town of Forbes and was shocked by the poverty level and the number of people living on the street.
“It was quite overwhelming, confronting,” he said. “I wanted to help out.”
And help out he did.
He initially set a goal to raise AU$1 million and passed that on October 14. In the end, he raised an insane AU$1,485,347 (NZ$1,654,173).
That’s a genuinely impactful amount that will surely make a difference to many people living it rough at the moment.
Shoutout to Nedd - a fair dinkum legend and has got to be the front-runner (no pun intended) for Australian of the year.
