‘Three days of hell’ raise more than $50k for domestic violence services
Kai Martin ran 324 kilometres in less than three days for a worthy cause, but his quest to help domestic violence services continues.
A Murray Bridge man who ran 324 kilometres in three days to raise funds for domestic violence services says he was “delirious” by the time he reached his destination.
Kai Martin completed the unthinkably gruelling run from Clare back to his home town just after 3am on Monday.
By the time he arrived, he had smashed his fundraising goal, netting more than $50,000 – and possibly much more – for local domestic violence support services.
Despite the pain and exhaustion he was suffering, he broke into a run for the final stretch along the riverfront, cheered on by about 100 people and a phalanx of police cars with flashing lights.
He ran past the head of the Lavender Federation Trail down to the Place of Courage – a local memorial to abuse victims and survivors – where he broke through a banner before circling back to hug his mum.
“It was pretty cool, running that far, but the reason I did it was for domestic violence,” he whispered hoarsely to the crowd moments later.
“Just because the run’s done doesn’t mean this conversation stops.
“We’ve gotta keep this going, keep fighting against domestic violence, okay?”
Blisters and delirium
Martin had run more than 100km before, but completing the Lavender Federation Trail on virtually no sleep was another beast entirely.
You might like
Friends forced him up to the Murray Bridge hospital’s emergency department after his arrival.
When Murray Bridge News caught up with him on Wednesday, his legs were still swollen and bandaged, his feet blistered, his mouth full of ulcers and his body aching.
“It was definitely harder than I was expecting,” he said ruefully.
“If you’ve never been shot before, you know it’s going to hurt, you know you’re going to be in pain, but you’ve never been shot, so you don’t really know – it’s like that.”
He had really started feeling it about 30 hours in, he said, when he suspected he might have sustained a stress fracture or something similar in one foot.
By the halfway point he was “kicking rocks, stumbling, getting confused about where I was and what time it was”.
He would stop, put on a pair of air compression boots, sleep for an hour and a half, have a feed and a coffee, then haul himself up and put one foot in front of the other again.
His heroes were his support crew: his girlfriend Tayla Groves, brother Aidan and friend Aaron Cowling; and police officer Derek Mattner – “the greatest human in the world” – who ran more than 100km alongside him.
Energising, too, were the strangers he met along the way: the hikers who gave him $100, a farmer who came out to check on him in the middle of the night, children waving signs.
He counted down the kilometres: 250 to go, 200, 150.
He admitted to cursing the trail’s designer, the late Terry Lavender, on some of the steeper and more circuitous stretches – after all, the distance from Clare to Murray Bridge is only about 155km as the crow flies.
The late sections were the hardest: scrambling up and down the stony hills of Rockleigh, seeing visions, battling heavy eyelids.
He also had to battle raging disappointment at having kept a welcome party waiting at Sturt Reserve for hours on end.
“I didn’t think anyone was going to be there,” he admitted.
“It wasn’t until I got just out of Kinchina … I’ve seen a bunch of people I knew were at the (Murray Bridge) Club during the day, they’re all like ‘come on bruv’.
“Then coming out of that backpackers (near Cypress Terrace) and getting a police escort, that just geed me up and made me quicker and quicker.
“My last little bit was 3:30 Ks, the quickest I ran for the whole entire thing.”
Stay informed, daily
Hindsight is 20:20, but if he had his time again, he’d use a bigger support crew and take more time.
“Looking back, I should have run for 20 hours, rested for four, and at least got a decent rest in,” he said.
“My mental state really wasn’t good.
“There’s no way I could have done it on my own.”
Funds raised will change lives
Domestic violence is an issue close to Martin’s heart, and one which has affected people near and dear to him.
He had spent years raising awareness of the issue in his home community, speaking out at public events and changing attitudes among classmates and footy club mates since the age of 15.
But he had never done anything quite like this.
The public fundraising page for Kai’s run for DV shows a tally of more than $50,000, but Martin estimated the final total would be much higher.
The 30 donation tins he had left around Murray Bridge were all full, some with up to $1000 in them; supporters had transferred thousands more into a private bank account; and T-shirts promoting the run were still available for sale.
On June 15 he will appear alongside other speakers at a Murraylands Women’s Health Summit, with all proceeds from the $50-a-ticket event going to his campaign.
The funds he has raised will benefit the Murray Bridge Regional Collaboration on Violence Against Women and Children.
The group’s volunteers will take the next few months deciding how to spend the money: perhaps on temporary accommodation for people escaping abuse, or a short-term contract for a support worker, or educating the next generation about respectful relationships.
The best of times, the worst of times
The dangerous question: would Kai Martin do it again?
“One thing I can say for real is: on that run I had the best frickin’ moments of my life – it’s the happiest I’ve ever been – and also the worst times of my life,” he said.
“I heard (runner) David Goggins say once it’s like getting 10 years’ experience, because you go through good times and bad times and overcome so much in such a short period of time.
“I remember being the happiest I’ve ever been – they’re blasting Snoop Dogg out of the car 80 Ks in, I’m just grooving, having the time of my life – then five hours later I was ready to headbutt a rock.”
What kept him going was his determination to make a difference in the lives of people who were suffering, or had survived, domestic violence.
“I put myself through three days of hell,” he said.
“Victims are in hell for as long as they’re in the abuse.”
- Donate: Visit www.mycause.com.au.
- Buy a T-shirt: $35 at vansonvisuals.com.au.
- Tickets for the Murraylands Women’s Health Summit: $50 at www.eventbrite.com.au.
