Another Burst From Hirst

On 20 July, Pulse Hobart reported that Ben Hirst (svc 2001-04) battled snow and wind to summit  Kunanyi / Mount Wellington 21 times in a week for charity - twice the equivalent  height of Mount Everest.  Ben pushed his limits for over 60 hours in total.

He ran with the goal of raising $10,000 for SPEAK UP Stay ChatTY. He has since “smashed” his target with close to $11,000 donated.

Ben is a Suicide Prevention Project Officer with Relationships Australia in Tasmania.

OVAtions has recorded the following previous big fundraising efforts by Ben:

• 2016 - Ran from Burnie to Hobart (340 km ) over a four day period.
• 2018 - Ran for 48 hours on a treadmill covering the equivalent of 272.3 km – with only one power nap of 20 minutes and half a dozen toilet breaks.
• 2019 - Ben ran 2348 laps of the playing field at GYC Barrack Street (330m lap). The significance of the 2348 – this was the number of male suicides in Australia in 2017.

Another Who Conquered Everest

In the 20 November edition of OVAtion we reported -

Professional cyclist, Nathan Earle (SVC 2003-04) recently completed the equivalent of pedalling up Mt Everest (8848m)!

He rode  47 laps of a 1.38 km stretch with a 188m of altitude gain averaging 13.6%  in the foothills of Mount Wellington to reach the  Everest equivalent.

He decided to take on the challenge because he was unable to compete internationally because of COVID-19.

Nathan completed the journey in seven hours twelve minutes – more than fifteen minutes faster than his predicted time. His time is the third fastest in the world for this extraordinary challenge.

A beneficiary of Nathan’s efforts was the Migrant Resource Centre to the tune of nearly $4 000.