Odd couple from Echuca to embark on Run for Hope

Twenty-six-year-old Tom is the son of an MMA (mixed martial arts) coach who has a highly pleasant, but intense, demeanour and is comparatively quietly spoken - particularly when he has hours of running the road ahead of him.

All the same the pair will come together with a common goal on Sunday, June 16 - to support Bears of Hope Pregnancy and Infant Loss Support.

The organisation played a major support role in the lives of Tom and partner Rachel when they lost their daughter, Scout, in July last year.

Bears of Hope’s mission is to provide ongoing comfort, support and counselling to parents and families who have experienced the loss of a baby during pregnancy.

Late last year Tom became aware of another family in the community who lost their child and was inspired to do something.

“I was running long distances anyway and I thought I could use the running to garner attention and raise funds for Bears of Hope,” he said.

From that Run for Hope was born and a little over six months later plans are in place to start the 110km journey at Primal Health Club in Benalla and use gym’s Fenaughty Street location in Kyabram as the finishing line.

While Andy and Tom are workmates at Simplot in Echuca, Tom is a personal trainer with Primal Health Club in his “spare time” and is promoting the event heavily through both networks.

“Bears of Hope supported us when we lost Scout, so he knew this would be an extremely worthwhile cause,” Tom said.

As for Andy, well he doesn’t need much of a reason to tackle a long distance run, but being a long time friend of Tom’s family meant he was even more invested in the prospect.

“I initially asked Andy to be my support person, but he responded by saying he would prefer to run with me.”

While it’s not a fitness challenge, as such, both Tom and Andy share a passion for running and challenging themselves.

Andy has been in Australia for 14 years and the pair have been working together at the Echuca factory for the last five years.

Their passion for running, just like I suggested from the outset, is probably only the real similarity in their ultra marathon experience.

Andy ran the first of his 20 marathons two decades ago. For Tom, his first was only last year.

There is a little bit of competition between the pair - how could there not be - and Tom was quick to point out his time of three hours and seven minutes was slightly ahead of Andy’s latest output - three hours and 13.

“You need to remember I am double his age,” Andy said.

Andy is much more comfortable over the ultra marathon distances of 50 to 100km and the pair are now stepping up their training to match the 12 hour 110km Benalla to Kyabram event.

"We just finished our longest training run together, it was 55km and took eight hours on a 6.7km loop course,“ Andy said.

If you are wondering if they get sick of one another there is no danger of that as they explained they rarely have run together in these “park runs”.

“We probably only see each other for 10 minutes at a time. We run with other people to break it up a bit,” Tom said.

Last weekend the pair planned a 70km training weekend, 30 on Saturday and 40 on Sunday.

One thing they didn’t need to worry about was hills, with just 300 metres of ascent for the whole trip from Benalla to Kyabram.

Marathon times and training aside the pair have a fundraising goal which has already been adjusted.

“We started with a target of $10,000, but only a week or so after launching the campaign we have $7750 of commitments.

“We have just made Instagram and Facebook pages, so we will see what comes of the next month or so,” Tom said, explaining discussions with their main sponsors hadn’t even been held.

The big ticket item of the Bears of Hope organisation are the Cuddle Cots, which are worth $6500.

Cuddle Cots have a cooling system designed to lie beneath the precious baby and slow down changes to the newborn. It allows families more time with their child.

Tom and Rachel used a Cuddle Cot at a Bendigo hospital and were so inspired by the experience they decided to launch their own fundraising effort.

The young couple received counselling resources and a care package that included a bear gifted from another bereaved family.

Bears of Hope also creates online support groups, face-to-face support groups, hospital and home visits of members and counsellors, newsletters and support material, phone and email support and more.

Aside from the family friendship, Andy has a strong philanthropic edge to his personality and has been a volunteer in the Echuca community in the men’s mental health space.

And while they will be running alone, they are by no means the sole members of the fundraising team.

Tom often runs and rides with his wife, Rachel, and children Harlow and Dusty.

Andy is also not the only runner in his family - his 14-year-old son Alex has just completed his own ultra marathon.

He will also be supported by his partner Lisa.

They have enlisted the support of Sarah from Complete Per4mance Coaching (Echuca) to write a running program and between now and the event will run 110km a week.

This will not be the last of their “big runs”, Andy’s goal is to run Melbourne to Sydney, something he planned a few years ago but got shot down by Covid.

Tom is planning on completing the Shepparton Last Man Standing Ultra Marathon.

Andy said it had been an emotional last two weeks, seeing the support and donations rolling in after having a soft launch only a week or two ago.

“It’s unbelievable how generous people are and we are so proud to be able to help and support Tom and Rachel through this journey.

“They truly are amazing,” he said.

Tom said he and Rachel had been blown away by the immediate support from the Kyabram and Echuca communities.

“Pregnancy and infant loss is a club that no one wants to be a part of, but it is sadly very common. We are eternally grateful to Andy and Lisa for partnering with us to raise these funds, we could not have done it without them,” he said.

Sponsors for the pair so far are Primal Health Club, Athlete’s Foot Echuca and Shepparton, Echuca Printers, Wedding and Event Angels, Hurley’s Bar + Bistro Kyabram, Intersport Bennett’s Kyabram, Simplot, Darren Seabrook Massage Therapy, Complete Per4mance Coaching, Fractel and Dance Illusions Kyabram.

An opportunity for people to pre-order Run for Hope shirts will soon appear on the Facebook page - satisfying a demand from the public to purchase the shirts.

People can contribute as a major sponsor by contacting Andy or Tom through the Run for Hope Facebook page or Instagram.