West Auckland primary school teacher Harrison Sanders is today running his seventh marathon in seven days, to raise money for children in need.
Teacher Harrison Sanders is running seven marathons through West Auckland in seven days, for a good cause. Photo: Supplied/ Harrison Sanders
For a lot of people, completing a marathon is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement that they can dine out on for years after. But Sanders doesn't fit into that category.
The 23-year-old is about to set out on his final marathon for the week. By the end he will have run a total distance of 295.4 kilometres.
Harrison's marathon mission is to raise money for children going without the essentials many take for granted. He told Jim Mora that as a teacher he'd been jolted by the reality some kids doing it tough faced.
"It was my first year teaching this year, and seeing the things that some kids miss out on was quite surprising, so I just thought I'd do my part."
He had hoped to raise $5000, but on Saturday donations powered past the $10,000 mark on his Givealittle page "7 marathons in 7 days".
"I'm stoked. I was blown away by the support," he said.
"It goes to a project called Back to School Project, and their aim is to give kids a better education, they set kids up with stationery at the start of each term," he said.
"They get a backpack with stationery books, and sometimes shoes and a hat."
He had also had support from local businesses to provide food vouchers and sporting equipment for families in need.
Sanders reported having to strap up some niggles on his body to keep it going today, but said he wasn't in too bad a condition.
Teacher Harrison Sanders is running seven marathons in seven days to fundraise for kids to have essential school supplies. Photo: Supplied
Today his route starts in Hobsonville, taking him through Massey, Henderson, Lincoln Road, back to Massey and Hobsonville, before ending in Whenuapai.
"Having people out there does push me through. Yesterday I was feeling pretty flat, and there were quite a few people that came along and it just dragged me through and the time went by."
He's expecting to be sore for some time after this week's efforts, but hopes to be mostly recovered in a couple of days, and good again for Christmas Day.
