Ben Hirst (SVC 2001-04) battled snow and wind to summit Kunanyi / Mount Wellington 21 times in a week for charity.
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.
