Tom Batrouney is gonna keep running as long as you keep donating this Friday, but why?

 

What if I said I was going to run forever starting at 7am on Friday 8th April? What if I said I was going to run continuous 10km loops of a very challenging course, live fundraising as I go? Your question would be why, right?

Why not? It’s an answer that’s all too often scared out of us as we grow, learn, and interact with others. We share problems, dangers and lived experience that we apply to others in order to (we hope) protect them, while also keeping those around us heading towards similar goals, dreams and plans. Why? Because it feels safe.

 

Ultra Trail Running has taught me that the only safety in life is a feeling that comes from within. A feeling of power, confidence and limitless potential in mind and body that can only be experienced while playing in nature where there are countless opportunities to fall, hurt, learn and grow. 

Being ‘out there’ has taught me to live a life of purpose and just how important it is to share these valuable lessons with others so they too can grow into their true potential. I don’t want to hold you back, I want to challenge you, inspire you and have you do the same for me.

 

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The Trouble With ‘Failure’

We’re taught from a young age about all of the ‘what ifs’ in life. What if you fall when you climb that tree? What if you don’t get that score on that exam? What if you fail?

PROJECT: RUN FOREVER is about taking on the biggest ‘what if’ of my life to push my perceived and known limits, and to get a community of outdoor enthusiasts together to be inspired to protect what we all love for future generations. I simply can’t put my 3 year old boy to bed every night while we repeat the words ‘I can do anything’ without being living, breathing, thriving proof of that.

I’m taking on this task, the biggest and toughest of my life by far for him, for all of the future kids I see deep in his eyes. But even more importantly, I’m doing it for our natural world, so that future people have at least the opportunity to experience what I have in nature.

 

Sport Meets Activism

PROJECT: RUN FOREVER is an act of sports activism. I’m working with a team of people dedicated to preserving the planet and all its complex ecosystems; systems every creature on earth relies on. I’ve been lucky enough to spend my life in the ocean and on the trails and I don’t want those life-shaping experiences to come down to luck for people in the future – I want it to be possible.

I’ve chosen to support For Wild Places and the Seabin Project with this challenge.

The For Wild Places team is pioneering sports activism and engaging a powerful community of runners and outdoor enthusiasts to use their voices and actions in the fight for our planet’s future.

@murrayfraser

@murrayfraser

Meanwhile, Seabin Project is doing similar – having started in Sydney, they’re now expanding worldwide, sharing data and filling knowledge gaps about the plastic pollution problem in our waterways. For me, having grown up surfing and running, the link between the two is strong, and moving between the sea and the land has shown me just how much these ecosystems depend on each other.

Every system in nature relies on another in order to survive and as people living and playing within these systems we’re no different. Nature’s not a thing, or a place, it’s a part of all of us and PROJECT: RUN FOREVER is my way of screaming from the trails that we can all make a difference.

Whatever that difference may be for future generations, at least we can say that we climbed that fucking mountain, so they can go even bigger.

 

Come And Support Project: Run Forever In The Real World

PROJECT: RUN FOREVER is an in-person event going down at Manly Dam on the Northern Beaches of NSW and we’d love to see you, your friends and family anytime from 7am Friday 8th April onwards. 

Come down and interact with Tom on the trails or at his aid station, enjoy the surrounds of this pristine area of nature and join in on the conversation. You can even sign up to join for a 10km lap – just make sure you fill out the form as places are limited.

PROJECT: RUN FOREVER is supported by some amazing brands and many of them also partner with We Are Explorers. Shoutout to Salomon, Patagonia, Single O, Heaps Normal, Lé Bent and Fractel.

 

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@murrayfraser

@murrayfraser

Feature photo by Matt Wiseman | Lé Bent