James and Hugo are preparing for 48 hours of running in the ‘4x4x48’. Photo: Supplied.
Mates James Boetto and Hugo Currie are gearing up for the longest run of their lives.
The pair will take a break from university this weekend to tackle the ‘4x4x48’ challenge, running laps of Lake Albert for two days, to raise money for mental health charity SANE.
“James, and I wanted to raise awareness for the charity which deals with complex mental health issues,” explained Hugo.
“It’s also a worldwide challenge to try to push yourself further than you perceive you can go.”
Created by former US navy seal and ultramarathon runner, David Goggins, the challenge involves running four miles (6.4km) at four-hour intervals over 48 hours – a total of 12 runs over two days which adds up to 48 miles (77km), hence the name, 4x4x48.
The challenge was created by former US navy seal and fitness advocate David Goggins. Photo: Dave Goggins, Twitter.
Hugo said their decision to sign up was left until the last minute and they had been training in earnest over the past few weeks.
“We wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to interfere with our university studies, so we only made the call about a month ago,” he laughed.
“James is a pretty accomplished endurance athlete, especially on the bike, but for myself, I’m pretty new to the endurance game.
“I ran a half marathon when I was in Year 11 a few years ago, and now I just do a little bit of running here and there.”
While the event is full of stops and starts, Hugo explained that it brought a unique set of challenges.
“Our legs are gonna get tighter, tighter and tighter throughout the event and we’re going to have pretty much no sleep over the two days, so as time progresses we’ll get more and more fatigued,” he said.
“It will require us to take a fairly significant amount of time to warm them up and get the legs ready before the next run.”
They have also been planning their diet carefully.
“By the time you finish each run there’s about three hours till the next one starts,” he said.
“So you can’t have any big meals, because then you’ll be running on a full stomach and it won’t sit well.
“The plan is to have something a little bit more substantial when you get back from a run and a bunch of small snack type meals over the two days.”
The lads invite supporters to come to the boat club to cheer them on. Photo: Supplied.
He said that Lake Albert was an obvious choice as it was flat, near to home and lent itself to the required 6.4km circuit.
“We found three routes in and around the lake that use parts of the lakefront and add up to the four miles which we have to do,” he said.
“All our runs start and finish at the boat club and anyone is welcome on the weekend to cheer us on.”
You can support Hugo and James in their quest to raise money for SANE Australia here.
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