Linden Tolhurst runs mammoth distance to fundraise for multiple sclerosis

When Tolhurst’s partner, Prue, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, it prompted him to use one of his passions to make a difference.

“There are a couple of reasons behind it (the run),” Tolhurst said.

“First of all, I enjoy running as a hobby, just to get out there and do those runs and marathons, but nothing ever further than that.

“So I was like, how do I use my hobby for a cause that I’m passionate about?

“So, I jumped online and searched for the longest trail in Victoria, and the Great Victorian Rail Trail came up, so I was like, I’ll run that.

“The thinking behind it, connecting it through to MS, was I figured that with my partner (Prue) being diagnosed with MS, a lot of the symptoms that she had were that she had a lot of fatigue and a lot of pain in her legs and had a lot of metal blurriness, fogginess and some disorientation as well.

“I figured that running 125km was a way that I could kind of pay tribute to that by replicating her symptoms and symptoms that are suffered by people across the globe and Australia with MS.”

As Tolhurst prepared for his mammoth run, he faced multiple twists and turns.

“It (the training) was a little bit inconsistent,” he said.

“We have a three-and-a-half-year-old son, and (I was) trying to work in with his schedule because in the morning, with Prue’s fatigue, I help out and look after him.

“So I had to get out and do my training runs before he would wake up, which was around 6am.

“I think my earliest training run I got up at about 1.30am.

“We also had a bout of pneumonia hit both Prue and myself in September, right at the business end of the training.

“That threw a bit of a spanner, but you know, whatever, I just tried to maintain a goal time of 17 hours.

“If it’s 18 hours, it doesn’t matter; it’s my own challenge, and as long as I raise money for it and finish it, it doesn’t matter too much.”

Despite the training challenges, Tolhurst was raring to go on the day.

“The day was absolutely incredible. I had to get up very early and carb load,” he said.

“I was up and had breakfast and coffee at 2.45am.”

“I set off from Tallarook in the dark. It was pretty cold at that point. I really had to try and keep my hands warm.

“The trail, to everybody who looks after and maintains it, it was very well marked and signposted.

“It was absolutely stunning. I can’t overstate enough how beautiful the trail was.”

Tolhurst said it was not until 85km into the run that he started to feel fatigued.

The gradual uphill from Yarck to Merton took a toll on the runner, and he said the wheels started to fall off as he approached Bonnie Doon.

“Spirits were pretty low,” he said.

“I knew I would get it done, but I was feeling pretty knackered.

“There was a group of about eight or nine friends and family who were at Bonnie Doon, and two of my good friends joined me with another bloke who was from MS Plus, and they ran the last 21km with me from Bonnie Doon to Mansfield.

“We ended up arriving at 9.06pm, and if it wasn’t for them, I would have been there at 10.30pm.

“The guys helped drag me through and keep moving.”

Tolhurst achieved a momentous feat off the track as well as on it.

The runner set a goal of raising $3500 for MS Plus, but by the time he finished the run, he had raised $5500 and is hoping to close fundraising at around $6000.

“I’m really thrilled,” he said.

“I’m really grateful. With the cost of living, things can be tight for people, and I’m really grateful for people’s generosity.

“I want to say a massive thank you to all my support crew.

“They came up for the weekend. We’re based in Melbourne, so they stayed in Bonnie Doon and made a little holiday out of it, but for the most part, they were there to support the run.

“My partner, Prue, was huge, marshalling everyone around to make sure everyone was there at all of the eight stations that were getting set up.

“Liam (Delany), who is a running coach in Mansfield. (He gave me) a lot of pointers and then came out and ran with me in the last section there for a few kilometres to just check in and keep the spirits up, which was great.

“Everybody that I spoke to was really supportive, from the Mansfield Tourism Office to the Friends of the Great Victorian Rail Trail and Seymour FM.

“When I put this together, I imagined that it would go to my friends and family. They would donate and help out, and I guess what I wasn’t expecting was how much of the community would get behind it.

“I ended up getting messages from people that I had no connection with at all, just saying, ‘Thank you so much. We have a family member who is affected by this, and we’re really thrilled that you’re helping support the MS support services.’

“It was something I really wasn’t expecting, and I’m really grateful.”

With the run over, Tolhurst is looking forward to his next running event and ways he can continue to support people with MS.

“There’s a marathon in Gippsland out near Warragul in December. I’ll probably run that.

“I’m still recovering, but once I’m fully recovered, I’ll go back and see if there is anything else I can do to help contribute, or if there is another thing I can do next year, I’ll probably do that too.

“Maybe not run 125km. Maybe some sort of social event (instead).”

You can still donate towards Linden Tolhurst’s fundraiser at https://www.doitforms.org.au/fundraisers/lindentolhurst

Once his fundraiser is closed, you can donate to MS Plus at https://donatenow.msplus.org.au/