Sean Bell: Vermont runner completes 4000km run from Cairns to Ringwood

A Vermont man has completed a 4000km run from Cairns to a Ringwood athletics track, overcoming a gut-wrenching personal tragedy which almost derailed his epic run.

A Vermont endurance runner has overcome the sudden and devastating loss of his mentor to complete an epic 4000km run on one side of Australia for charity.

Sean Bell’s coach and business partner, Jase Cronshaw, died suddenly in Sydney five days after Mr Bell began his run from Cairns on April 11, in support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Mr Cronshaw had coached Mr Bell for four years and helped him prepare for his epic run, which was designed to complete 60km running a day for 60 days.

Nobody would have blamed Mr Bell for ending his fundraiser, but he said he was determined to honour his coach.

“It broke my heart,” he said.

“To be able to keep going, it really tested me … we’re business partners too and it’s a huge loss, he was an amazing person.”

“I had a lot of days where I thought, how can I do this … and I really had to come back to why I was out there.

“We wanted to raise as much money and awareness together, and inspire others to chase their dreams, whatever they are.

Mr Bell took just one day off – to attend Mr Cronshaw’s funeral – before he laced up his shoes and started running again.

“People ask me, how have you done this, 4000km without any injury,” he said.

“It’s the ultimate testament to my coach … to him being so strong and how well he looked after me.

“And I think when he passed away, my purpose evolved to honour him and finish what we started together.”

Originally set to finish at the home ground of his old footy club Vermont Eagles on Friday night, Bell decided to clock up an extra 69km on Saturday to reach the 4000km milestone.

Supplied Editorial Sean Bell finishes his 4000km charity run from Cairns in Ringwood on June 11, 2022. Picture: Kiel Egging

He ran 169 laps around the athletics track at Ringwood’s Proclamation Park, joined by several supporters and little athletics club members who ran alongside him.

On the second-last lap, he led a ‘silent’ lap around the track to honour Mr Cronshaw and reflect on his incredible journey over the past 60 days.

“We decided to not say a word, just to run and reflect, think about these last two months, and think about Jase and his children, so it was pretty special,” he said.

Mr Bell happily toasted the end of his run with a Canadian Club and Dry, and said he was looking forward to a well-earned sleep-in on Sunday morning.

After initially setting a target of $60,000, Mr Bell had reached $77,000 in donations for Make-A-Wish by Saturday afternoon.

He has set a revised target of $100,000, and supporters can help contribute to the cause by visiting seanbellrunforwishes.com