Canberra 48-Hour Marathon: Fund Raising One Step at a Time

The Canberra 48 hour ultra marathon has come to an end after a successful weekend of racing and raising money for charity.

The CBR 48hr is an annual event, which holds multiple long distance races at the Australian Institute of sport with the aim of raising money for various charities.

This year’s event was sponsored by Kilted to Kick Cancer, an organisation that aims to open up the conversation about prostate health and support the mission of the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

The 48hr ultra marathon had over 30 competitors from all around Australia and even competitors from Sweden, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

A total of 93 people donned the racing bibs and hit the track over the weekend to race in events such as the 24hr, 12hr and 6hr events.

One participant of the 48-hour marathon was ex-serviceman Phil Essam, who has been an ultra runner and walker for 27 years.

Phil first got into the sport after seeing a group of people run past the base he was stationed at and thought to himself, “I could do that”.

The former Australian Air Force policeman of 27 year’s said the event is all about achieving goals and helping people out.

“There’s nothing good with walking or running around a track for 48 hours,” Phil joked.

“Its the goal, it’s the satisfaction of achieving the goal.”

“In the last five years I find it helps me to get motivated if I’m helping other people.”

Phil has used his racing to raise money for many charities over the years including Bladder Cancer and Legacy.

However, Phil decided to use the CBR 48hr to raise money for something a little closer to home and address the issue of homelessness in Canberra.

“I’ve been noticing a lot more of the homeless people in Canberra,” Phil said.

“I think it’s a lot worse than what it should be, so I thought lets do something for Canberra and lets do something to help the homeless problem in Canberra.”

So far Phil has raised over $450 for homeless people in Canberra with the ultimate goal of raising $1500 by the end of the year.

If you would like to donate to Phil and help him reach his goal you can find the link here.