‘This run is nothing compared to what the people we’re supporting go through every day’: British ultra-marathon runners take on 965km journey

A pair of English runners - one of which lives and works in Chinchilla - have set off an almost 1000km journey raising money for mental health and refugee charities.

A British ultra-marathon runner working and living in Chinchilla has joined forces with his fellow Englishman to complete a mammoth trek from Melbourne to Sydney all while raising money for two important causes.

Sam Mole and Tom Hall took off running from Melbourne last week, embarking on an almost 1000km journey hoping to raise $5000 for men's mental health charity Grab Life By The Balls and Sanblast a charity which supports the Sawhari people living in refugee camps.

The pair are no strangers to distance running with Sam completing seven marathons in seven days last year while Tom ran the length of England.

The pair recently linked up over Instagram through a shared love of running and philanthropy and realising they would both be in Australia at the same time got to planning.

Sam Mole and Tom Hall are running from Melbourne to Sydney

Mr Mole said they were now a few days into their journey and had faced their fair share of setbacks.

“It’s not gone to plan so far, Tom got food poisoning so It’s been a couple of shorter recovery days running 60/65km distances but we will go from there until he can bang out the 100km again,” he said.

“The plan was to complete the journey in 10 days but that’s out of the question now, sometimes things are out of your control, Tom has spent three days puking.

“Life doesn’t go to plan sometimes, but it’s not too bad, we are pretty much on the border of New South Wales now.”

Mr Mole said despite the setback it had done little to dampen their spirit.

“I like to think spirits are fairly high, Tom may disagree but at the end of the day we only have each other, so while its all smooth sailing for me at the minute it may flip and Tom might be grand and I won't,” he said.

“It has been slow and steady progress the first few days but it’s not going to stop us, we are on a mission to get this done and get this done we will.”

Sam Mole and Tom Hall have faced setbacks in the first few days of their journey

Sam said Tom had selected a mental health charity to support with the pair believing it was an important cause which touched a lot of people.

“Men’s mental health is important, men are horrendous at talking about their thoughts and feelings when they are struggling,” he said.

“Also dealing with it is hard, we are awkward creatures, this charity focuses more on harnessing the sense of community and friendship as the focal point.

“It focuses on meet ups and creating safe spaces where people feel comfortable to talk, which Tom and I both agreed is a good long term approach.

“Suicide is the number one killer of men under 45 around the world, it is shocking and affects everyone rich or poor or Australian or English there is no escaping it.”

Sam Mole and Tom Hall are supporting mental health and refugee charities

Meanwhile Sam said he selected Sanblast as his chosen charity after an eye opening few weeks in Africa.

“I was lucky enough in February to spend two weeks in Western Sahara in the refugee camps and it is amazing to see the resilience of the people despite what they face,” he said.

“They are forced out of their own country and have lived in the desert for 50 years waiting for the UN to help them, they go weeks without water in temperatures nearly 50 degrees and you won't find a single Sawhari not smiling.

“Sanblast focuses on education to try and help them broaden their skills, they have been teaching music and arts within the camps and its very beneficial for the kids.

“This run is going to be brutal, but it’s nothing compared to what the people we’re supporting go through every day.”

The pair are expected to arrive in Melbourne by the end of this week.

Donations can be made here