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Nedd Brockmann has received a hero’s welcome at Sydney’s Bondi Beach after completing his mammoth run from one side of Australia to the other.
The 23-year-old ran from Cottesloe Beach in Perth to Bondi — a 3952km journey over 47 days entirely in the name of charity.
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He has raised almost $1.5 million for Mobilise, a charity that helps those experiencing homelessness, with the number of contributors exceeding 20,000.
Brockmann arrived at Bondi at around 5.30pm AEDT on Monday as thousands of people crammed the streets to cheer him home.
He was given a traditional Indigenous ceremony before having to endure the torture of walking up some stairs to address the crowd.
Brockmann thanked everyone for the support and celebrated by popping a bottle of champagne and he happily obliged when chants of “shoey!” went up.
His epic running effort in the name of charity is being praised by Aussies everywhere and there are already calls for Brockmann to be named the next Australian of the Year.
Brockmann departed Cottesloe Beach in Perth on September 1, and has since averaged more than 80 kilometres per day since.
He ran approximately 10 hours each day, starting at around 5am. Over the course of his 46-day journey, he jogged the equivalent of more than 270 City2Surf races.
Brockmann was accompanied by his parents, Kylie and Ian Brockmann, girlfriend Jemma Griffin, friend and photographer Bradley Farley, as well as his physio.
“He needs to get off his feet pretty quickly, because they’re pretty mashed by that point,” Kylie told The Sun-Herald.
“He’s holding up incredibly well. He’s very thin and I’d rather he was a bit chunkier, but he’s still running. I’m astounded.”
Brockmann was initially hoping to topple the all-time record, with German ultra marathon runner Achim Heukemes completing the journey across Australia in 43 days in 2005.
But after sustaining an injury around day 12, he needed to cut back on his mileage for recovery.
A hugely swollen ankle saw him unable to lift his foot or move his toes.
“We strapped it like buggery and I banged out the 100 km pretty late into the night,” he wrote on Instagram.
Scans revealed a severe overuse injury and the recommended course of action was not moving the injured part for six weeks. But Brockmann opted for cortisone injections and kept running.
Things continued to get worse from there with his feet receiving such punishment his blisters became full of pus and he had maggots living in his toe.
It wasn’t just his lower body though with his biceps unable to straighten because they were stuck in a running position for so long.
In 2020, Brockmann achieved the remarkable feat of running 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days, raising more than $100,000 for Australian Red Cross.
You can donate to Brockmann’s cause here.
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