Making Strides Against Child Cancer

​Jon Nabbs is a kiwi from Kaipaki. Growing up in the Waikato, he was introduced to running by his parents at a young age. He instantly fell in love with it. ​O​ver the years, it came to be one of the strongest things he shared with his mum, Margaret.

​In 2020, he lost his dad, Brian, to skin cancer. ​Sadly, 4 months later, his mum was also diagnosed with cancer. She was gone 12 months later.

​Motivated to do something constructive with his grief, he ran alone for 305 days across the entire width of Canada - the equivalent of 172 marathons back-to-back ​- through temperatures as cold as -53 degrees Celsius​. He had no support vehicle, and pushed everything he needed in a pram he named 'Shania,' after Canadian music icon Shania Twain. He did the run dressed as Superman, and stopped in at childrens' hospitals in major Canadian cities along the way. He was only the 5th person to ever run across Canada self-supported. The adventure raised ​over NZ$125,000 for Canadian and Kiwi children fighting cancer.

​Now, Jon has come home to New Zealand and has a new goal! Running on average 80Km/day, Jon will follow a route 2,034Km long; from Bluff to Cape Reinga​.​ The entire journey will be shared with live-streaming online, as well as a real-time GPS Tracker, and social media video updates, for people to follow.

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The run will also be an official attempt at the Guinness World Record for fastest running of the length of New Zealand.

Just like in Canada, he'll be taking on this huge challenge without a support car. However, for this challenge, Jon will have a support bike, pedalled by a fellow adventurer, Mike, who Jon met in New Brunsiwck while crossing Canada.

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Jon's planning to take time out (in the middle of the record attempt!!) in Christchurch and Auckland, to visit children fighting cancer.

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Throughout the challenge, Jon is encouraging people to raise $250,000 for the Child Cancer Foundation of New Zealand.

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For Canadian friends following the journey, Jon has kept open the fundraising page from his cross-Canada adventure. So anyone who'd like to donate in support of Childhood Cancer Canada is still able to, here.

With this adventure, Jon is hoping to make it to Cape Reinga, he's hoping to break a Guinness World Record, and he's hoping to raise much-needed funds​ to improve treatments - all important goals - but most importantly, he's hoping to give children ​undergoing cancer ​treatment something ​that they can follow along with, be a part of​, ​get excited about, and believe in.

​Follow the journey on his Instagram page and his Youtube page.

Donate to Jon's Child Cancer Foundation fundraising page here