PORT Adelaide football hero and AFL media personality Kane Cornes sneaked in a quick run around Lake Wendouree on Tuesday morning before a large community send-off for his epic running journey.
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Cornes said he had heard about the lake's beauty and Ballarat's strong running community and he wanted to experience this for a little even though it was not officially on the highly publicised 725-kilometre Adelaide to Melbourne route.
So close, and yet 140km still to trek, Jayco Ballarat hosted a breakfast send-off for Cornes as he continues to raise money and awareness for My Room Children's Cancer Charity. His finish line is scheduled for Thursday night's The Footy Show Grand Final: My Room Telethon on Thursday night.
"It's overwhelming to be here and meet families affected by cancer and see their resilience," Cornes said. "The run has captivated a few people online and their support has been incredible. Every town I pass through people have been so kind and generous and supportive.
"It's been so hard."
Ballarat mum Tanya Butterworth made sure she came to cheer Cornes in her hometown. Ms Butterworth's family life was turned upside down overnight when the youngest of her four children, Mackenzie, was diagnosed with leukaemia.
The night the then-two-year-old was diagnosed, she was admitted to the Royal Children's Hospital and a guardian had to remain within 30 minutes of the hospital for days.
Ms Butterworth had to give up work while also juggling the needs of her other three children, who were in primary school at the time. She said My Room took care of everything: accommodation, bills, a social worker and "middle man" work to help sort out life.
"It's always amazing when someone like Kane steps up. Being regional and unable to access a hospital right here for her needs was hard," Ms Butterworth said. "I want to help support anything like this doing charity for childhood cancer awareness."
Mackenzie, now aged five, will mark one year since finishing treatment on December 31.
Cornes is making the journey on 12 consecutive days. He said his weekend, running through the Grampians, was both beautiful with lots of wildlife to distract him in the tough periods, particularly when the weather had been so wet.
Kane's Run follows a 42km run on the treadmill he undertook for last year's telethon, raising $3.3 million.
Even being an experienced marathon runner, and some pre-run words of advice from Ballarat Olympic marathon legend Steve Moneghetti, could not fully prepare Cornes for what lay ahead on his journey from Adelaide.
"I've always loved running and for a long time I've done marathons. I spoke to 'Mona' before the run and saw him again in Ballarat today and he said to me 'I didn't want to tell you how hard going it would be'," Cornes quipped.
"...Ballarat has such a large running community and some amazing runners who were either born in Ballarat or who trained in Ballarat. It's been awesome - I've always wanted to come through here and see some of the routes they run."
Cornes is making his way to Ballan on Tuesday, mostly via the Old Melbourne Road. He will stay in Ballarat the night and resume running from Ballan again on Wednesday.
His body is holding up - "by a thread".
Ballarat's Mary McGowan, Keith Waters and City of Ballarat councillor Samantha McIntosh, each My Room founding board members, said Kane's Run was a way to celebrate all the great, continued work in helping to support families.
Vintage cars, in a tilt to an early My Room fundraiser in 1993, lined the starting point outside Jayco Ballarat from where Cornes re-started his run.
Cr McIntosh also pointed to early community fundraisers in Stawell that helped launch the charity, and the incredible effort Cornes was making to keep helping regional families.
"it's such a beautiful family," Cr McIntosh said. "This group of people deal with such significant trauma and stick together helping to save lives."
The Footy Show Grand Final: My Room Telethon will air this Thursday at 8.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now. You can donate to Kane's Run here.
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