In good Nick for long walk
TOLD he had Type 1 Diabetes came as something of a shock and some life changes for Toowoomba man Nick Hannant. But rather than dwell on the negative, Mr Hannant decided to do something positive and help in the quest for diabetes research. “I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes just three days after my 29th birthday in 2015,” Mr Hannant said. “I had just come back from the Birdsville Races. “It’s actually quite rare to be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at that age, it usually comes much earlier.” A keen horse racing fan, Mr Hannant had planned a trip to this year’s Cox Plate in Melbourne when he saw a flyer advertising “The Great Ocean Road Trek 2018” just outside Melbourne a week or so before. “It’s a 100km walk over five days so we do about 20km a day,” Mr Hannant said. “You have to raise $1250 to take part in the walk and after just one week of putting it out on Facebook I have received $1600 so I’m well on the way to raising the $5000 that I set myself.
“All proceeds go to Diabetes Queensland so it’s all for a good cause.
“I was going to the Cox Plate anyway so I thought why not do the walk as well.
“The walk finishes a few days before the Cox Plate.”
The trekkers meet in Melbourne on October 18 with their first trek, an estimated nine-hour walk at Apollo Boy trekking via Marengo and Shelly Beach to Blanket Bay.
Mr Hannant said he was planning on starting to do some training exercises so he was up to the walking challenge come October.
“Hopefully, my old knee from my footy days will hold up,” he quipped.
If you would like to help Mr Hannant reach his target of $5000, go to https://greatoceanroad trek18. everyday hero. com/au/nick-s-greatocean-road-trek
More than 236,000 Queenslanders live with various types of diabetes.