Sport
8 May, 2024
Inspirational athlete on track to complete world run
TIM Franklin describes himself as an ‘ordinary guy with an extraordinary goal.’
But his goal is far from ordinary.
Franklin is currently well on his way to completing a run of the world – a 26,232 kilometre journey that has taken him across six continents.
His journey began in December 2022 from South Bank Parklands in his home city of Brisbane.
In the months since, he has run in New Zealand (Queenstown to Auckland), the United States (San Francisco, San Diego, Miami and New York City), South America (Santiago – Beunos Aires), Europe (Lisbon – Istanbul) and Asia (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Singapore) before returning to Australia (where he ran from Perth to Adelaide and is now well on his way to Melbourne).
Tim enjoyed an overnight stop in Warrnambool last Friday and Terang on Saturday before making his way through Camperdown last Sunday on his way to Melbourne.
From Melbourne he will head up the centre, through Sydney, before crossing the start/finish line in Brisbane late June/early July.
Speaking with Franklin’s crew leader Peter Chadwick on Monday, which was day 520 of their incredible journey, their original plan was to complete this mammoth run by January 2024.
But as with all good plans, several factors (many out of their control) had seen their plans change.
This included weather conditions, injuries and other circumstances.
“From what we can plan at the moment, it will be pretty much straight up from Melbourne through to the start/finish line in Brisbane,” Chadwick said.
“We had originally set January as our completion date. The world record for covering 26,232 kilometres on foot is 434 days but we’ve had a few setbacks and at one stage Tim also had to fly home for a family funeral, but we are now aiming for a late-June/early July finish.
“We have seen some amazing places, met so many wonderful people and are also raising some important funds (and awareness) along the way for our three charity partners,” Peter said.
Franklin’s major charity partner is ‘Inspiring Brighter Futures’ – a group that supports and encourages young people to make a better future for themselves.
He is also hoping to raise funds and awareness for Wings for Life (spinal cord research foundation) and Lung Foundation Australia.
“It’s an amazing feat really; to cover such a huge distance on foot,” Chadwick said.
“I’ve know Tim since we were at school together and he truly is an inspiration. I think he budgeted for about 40 pairs of runners but I’m not exactly sure how many he’s gone through so far.
“He had a few leg issues while in Europe and he’s endured some pretty phenomenal weather conditions at times but he’s keeping a steady pace at the moment.”
According to Chadwick, the World Runners Association have a number of rules that stipulate what qualifies as a world run (a circumnavigation of the Earth on foot).
This includes – the run must start and finish at the same place; runners must cover at least 26,232km on foot; all lines of longitude must be crossed during the attempt (either on foot or in a plane, ship or other vehicle) and all non-running/walking components cannot be added to the total distance covered.
A runner must also cross at least four continents from ‘coast to coast’ covering a minimum of 3000km on each continent and he/she must run more than 50 per cent of total distance (walk less than 50 per cent).
A runner may take as many breaks as desired but the total cumulative ‘time off’ for a world run or walk must be limited to either six months (where total time is two years or less) or 25 per cent of total time.
Franklin’s own journey is an inspirational one.
Despite growing up living a healthy and active lifestyle, a multitude of health issues in adulthood, resulting from a combination of poor diet, alcohol, corporate life and partying, saw him spiral.
But his “pivotal moment” came while practising law.
Franklin came across a quote, written by a parent, that read “the hardest thing a parent has to do is bury their own child.”
This ignited a fire within like no other.
The very next day he laced up his shoes and embarked on what he thought was the impossible.
He ran a slow and painful 2.2km – the hardest 28 minutes of his life.
But he never looked back. He knew he had to keep moving forward.
Since that day Franklin has grown stronger and more determined.
He has achieved countless feats of both mental and physical endurance and his current run around the globe is evidence of that.
“Tim just wants to inspire others to make big changes just by putting their best foot forward every day,” Chadwick said.
“We can all learn something from him.”
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