The ’stache on the track goes round and round
Running 50 kilometres is hard.
But running those 50km by going around the same oval 125 times? You have to be crazy.
Not that Lewis Marama thinks he is crazy.
‘‘I just decided to do something a bit different.’’
Marama took to the Manawatu¯ Community Athletics Track at Massey University in Palmerston North on Saturday to run 50km as part of the Movember fundraiser for men’s health.
Movember usually involves men growing moustaches of varying quality to raise funds for men’s health issues like prostate and testicular cancer.
While Marama has grown a moustache – he sported a horseshoe, also known as a biker, on Saturday – he also decided to do the run.
The Movember movement encouraged people to walk or run 60km during November – a kilometre for every man lost to suicide across the world each hour – but Marama settled on 50km in a day.
He took up running in 2018 to help with his ownmental health, and said doing 50km around the track was asmuch about mind power as it was physical endurance. ‘‘Going around the same track 125 times is the reason why I did this, as it highlights the mental health side.’’
He usually did two or three 50km runs per year, but mostly stuck to trail running and had a personal best of seven hours and 25 minutes.
He expected running on the track would drop the time closer to six hours, a prediction which came true with the run taking him six hours, 35minutes and 37 seconds.
He was thankful for the clear weather after a week of rain and wind, with a few clouds giving occasional cover from the sun and a light breeze to cool off.
Family and friends had travelled from around the country to support him.
Some ran with him, while others took care of a sausage sizzle.
He also walked a lap every 10km to hand out spot prizes to people who went to watch and cheer him on.
People can donate to Marama’s Movember fundraiser at movember.com/m/lewismarama and learn more about Movember at nz.movember.com.