Lake Burley Griffin marathon inspired by Fijian need
Most people return from an overseas holiday with gifts and countless photos, but two Canberrans arrived home from a Fijian kayaking adventure last month with an ambitious idea.
Teacher Steven Jeremy and child and family worker Jason Thornton returned with a goal to complete a 24-hour kayak marathon to raise money for an infant primary school on one of the Pacific nation's tiny north-west islands.
Mr Jeremy said he was struck by the lack of even basic resources when the kayaking tourists visited the Navotua Village school as part of their trip.
"I said to the principal, 'what's the day to day things you want?' and that's when he gave me a list and I said, 'we can do that'," Mr Jeremy said.
"It was just such a contrast when I came back to my school [in Hawker]."
Mr Jeremy, 47, and Mr Thornton, 49, will be joined in their October 18-19 marathon around Lake Burley Griffin by their fellow middle-aged weekend kayaking mates Sean Meere – whose wife is a teacher – and Richard Jones, who works for the federal Department of Education.
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Mr Jones said the four men had been on several kayaking trips throughout NSW, but the marathon challenge – which will have two men on the lake at all times, with one- and two-hour shifts – would be their most extreme test.
"It's a little bit daunting, thinking what's it going to be like getting in and out of the kayak at 3am, but we've done some big trips," he said.
The self-named Men in Skirts – after the covering each wears to stop water entering the kayak cockpit – hope to raise $4000 which would pay for pencils, sandpit toys, Duplo, wooden jigsaw puzzles and Hi 5 CDs, as well as solar panels to end the reliance on expensive imported diesel.
Donations can be made directly at the mycause.