It seems at any given time, there is someone walking, running, biking or horse-riding the length of New Zealand.
Right now, it’s the turn of Cody Jacobs. He’s averaging a marathon a day – around 40km – as he jogs up the country.
Curly is a farmer, turned ultra-marathoner, turned charity runner. He’s doing it on a GiveALittle for KidsCan, with no support crew, comfy beds, or forward bookings. Just Curly and his cart.
He did it years ago with his dog, but this time he’s on his own. He’s running for a cause, and Cape Reinga is not the finish line.
“[I’ll] shoot back to Taupō, catch up with the family and then I fly over to Tasmania and run across Tasmania.
“Then get the ferry to Melbourne or Geelong, then I’m running from Melbourne to up to Adelaide, Port Augusta and then straight up the middle of Australia to Darwin.”
Despite the big goal, Curly has been successful on his journey so far up the country, despite the fatigue.
“[I’ve] been a bit shaky the last few days, the first week was diabolical. But the feet are starting to come right now, just a bit of general fatigue now. My watch keeps telling me to rest, that I’m overreaching.
Curly said the golf trundler came about when he was in Gore and needed to give his feet a bit of rest.
“It was only supposed to last a week… the guy in the shop said it won’t go far and I’m still going north of Christchurch.”
Curly told Seven Sharp he chose KidsCan after hearing about the numbers associated with hungry children in Aotearoa.
“I thought my goodness, they are our next generation of people who are coming up and we need to help them as much as we can.”
For more information on Curly or to donate to his fundraiser for KidsCan, visit the GiveALittle page.
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