23 Year Old Runs the Length of New Zealand for St John

26 March 2012

Twenty Three Year Old Runs the Length of New Zealand for St John

31 marathons in 35 days. This is the challenge 23-year-old Mathew Broad of Christchurch has set himself when he embarks on the North 2 South Charity Challenge.

At the end of this month Mathew will set off to run the length of New Zealand, a total of 2298 kilometres, to fundraise for St John. Starting at Cape Reinga and finishing in Bluff, each leg will be between 51 to 83 kilometres.

Mathew aims to raise $30,000 for St John, a charity he is supporting to continue the legacy left behind by his late grandfather, Russell Hodges.

“My Grandad always devoted his time to supporting his local community (Winton) and helping others,” says Mathew. “He was particularly passionate about St John and spent many years supporting them as both an Officer and Regional Chairman. I’ve been thinking about doing this run for a few years now and in doing so carry on the good work my Grandad started.”

Mathew plans to fundraise through a combination of corporate and personal sponsorship from friends, family and supporters within the communities he passes. The $30,000 Mathew hopes to raise will be used to support the charitable work of St John including the ambulance service, community initiatives such as free transport to medical appointments for those who need it and the friendship telephone service Caring Caller.

Mathew is also inviting others to join him as he travels through their towns.

“I’m really hoping support runners will join me for each of the legs,” he adds. “The more New Zealanders aware of my challenge, the more we can raise for St John.”

Transition checkpoints have been organised for registered support runners to join his daily runs. The Challenge will follow SH1 through most of New Zealand’s largest centres.

Sponsors of Matthew’s challenge include SUBWAY® restaurants, Asics, One Square Meal, Choice Hotels, Feet n Motion, Anytime Fitness, GIB, Placemakers, Resene, United Industries, Webfreak, James Hardies, Gen-I, RTFM and Linton Contracting and Matt’s employer Stonewood Homes where he works as a draftsman. Stonewood Homes is providing a support vehicle for the duration of his challenge and will continue to pay Matt as he runs, with the his wages going back into the event.

For more information on the Running North 2 South Challenge and how you can join or support Mathew visit www.runningnorth2south.co.nz

About St John
All around New Zealand, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – St John members care for communities, help people in medical and accident emergencies, and relieve sickness and injury. Last year St John attended over 336,000 emergency incidents and treated and transported more than 396,000 patients – 6.6% more than in the previous year.

St John is a charity relying on support from the community to help fund services to improve the health and well-being of New Zealanders - including Youth programmes, Friends of the Emergency Department volunteers providing comfort to patients in hospital emergency departments, Caring Caller telephone friendship service to support isolated people and Health Shuttles to get people to medical appointments.

ENDS

© Scoop Media