13 March 2019
With the aim of raising funds and awareness for cancer, David Ault is about to run his second race of the year in his hometown of Canberra.
David will continue his "Around Australia Marathons 2019" – a challenge that will see him running at twelve major events, within nine months, covering the entire country from the ACT all the way to the far North West and then back home via Melbourne.
In December 2017, before turning 63, this passionate runner was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
"After outlining my treatment options, the Urologist gave me the possible dates for a radical prostatectomy, the earliest being 23 January 2018. So, I took the opportunity and did a couple of park-runs and bicycle rides before I was confined to the operating table, bed and house (in that order)," David said.
David refers to his recovery as "slow but successful" and just two months after surgery, he joined Run NSW – a 10km event in Wollongong.
From there, David continued to register for longer duration events and by the end of 2018 – less than a year after his operation – he had run in 17 major marathons, trail runs and half-marathons across NSW and ACT, covering more than 330km in total.
"My Fitbit, which I wear most of my time, recorded about 6,000,000 steps and 4,000km of distance walked and run for 2018. I suppose you could assess me as an active person. Most of my family and friends seem to regard me as an athlete – I am unsure I am worthy of this title," David said.
The idea of the "Around Australia Marathons 2019" was a joint decision between David and his partner Dawn who are fascinated with the opportunity to travel across all Australian states and territories and spread the word about the work of Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA).
David wanted a more meaningful adventure and decided to develop an awareness campaign for prostate cancer and other cancers aligned with his running journey.
"I hope to influence people to lead a healthier lifestyle and be more aware of the incidence and prevalence of the major cancers that people in Australia are most at risk of," he said.
David's 2019 adventure commenced in January with the Hobart Marathon and on March 15th David will be running in the Kilted to Kick Cancer Canberra 48-hour race. Hot off the heels of that race David will be running the Ultra Marathon for PCFA in the Australian Running Festival on 14th April.
On 25 April David and Dawn will head west in time for the Adelaide Marathon on 26 May. The journey will continue to picturesque Rottnest Island in WA for the 16 June Marathon.
The remaining scheduled events are as follows:
- 7 July: Broome International Airport Marathon
- 21 July: Darwin ½ Marathon
- 4 August: Sunshine Coast Marathon
- 8 September: Coffs Harbour Running Festival ½ Marathon
- 15 September: Blackmores Sydney Running Festival Marathon
- 13 October: Melbourne Marathon
To support David on his "Around Australia Marathons 2019" go to:
https://give.everydayhero.com/au/around-australia-marathons-2019
Follow David's adventure on Facebook:
Around Australia Marathons 2019 - David Ault
