Gavin Almenara normally avoids running, however a cause close to his heart inspired him to pull on the runners.
In an effort to raise awareness of Crohn’s disease and colitis, Gavin vowed to run a kilometre for every $10 he raised – he ended up running more than 150 kilometres.
“I had a goal of what I wanted to raise, but probably didn’t expect to be running as much as I did,” Gavin joked.
Gavin was inspired to start the campaign after close friend Ryan Hartwig was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease last year. Two months later Gavin’s cousin was diagnosed with colitis. Both are Iife-long gastrointestinal disorders which affect the bowel.
“I didn’t know much about Crohn’s and colitis, then within the space of two months two people close to me had been affected,” Gavin said.
His fundraising efforts were a massive success, raising more than $4000 in support of the cause.
“When you look at me, I’m not exactly Usain Bolt, so I thought that might prompt people to help out and donate,” he said. “I regularly ran around Lake Caroline and my website raised over $1000 with donations. I also did a fundraiser in conjunction with the Caroline Springs RSL, which raised over $3000.”
While he didn’t relish the prospect of running, Gavin said he was happy to do his bit.
“I really just wanted to help out and this was my way of doing something,” he said. “I had to break up the running into blocks each week to get there, but I made it.”
After such overwhelming success, Gavin plans to do it all again later in the year and is in the early stages of organising a bowls day at Deer Park in August or September this year.
