Why Greg is walking 42km the day after his birthday

He has walked almost every day for the last six months in preparation for today.

Greg Bray, columnist for the Gladstone Observer. Photo Brenda Strong/The Observer

TO CELEBRATE his birthday while fundraising, Greg Bray will walk 42km around Spinnaker Park today.

Mr Bray, who turned 53 yesterday, will do 26 laps of a 1.6km Spinnaker Park circuit over eight hours for his ‘birthday marathon’.

He’s walked almost every day for six months to prepare.

“It was just always one of those things on my bucket list … a marathon,” Mr Bray said.

He said a marathon would be a better way to celebrate his birthday than a party.

“(It) is something I always wanted to do but have never been a runner so I thought ‘well, I’ll walk’.”

Mr Bray said instead of getting presents, he decided to “give back” by raising funds for The Mission to Seafarers Gladstone and Roseberry House, a youth shelter program.

“(Roseberry House) do a lot of work for homeless men in Gladstone,” he said.

“Because I walk around the city at night … I am seeing a lot of these homeless guys and I thought ‘well, this is a pretty good chance to help some of these fellas out’,” he said.

He said he also wanted to help the Mission to Seafarers as they do “amazing work”.

“At Spinnaker you get to look at all the coal ships … (and) those guys are trapped on those ships and I get to walk around in nature whereas they are on a big steel vessel with no trees.”

He also wanted to recognised those who will join him on the day that have “made (his) life better for being in it.”

He will collect cash donations throughout the day and people are welcome to walk with him or come down for support.

For every lap he completes, Mr Bray will also donate $10.

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