Toowoomba Grammar student James Petersen crosses the 100km finish line
After 13 hours this Toowoomba Grammar boy crossed the 100km finish line, raising more than $30,000 in the process.
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Having previously only run about 20km at a time, a Toowoomba Grammar boy has crossed the finish line of a 100km ultra-marathon, and he did it all for his late grandfather.
Year 12 student James Petersen started his 100km run at 4am on Wednesday, May 28 at Toowoomba Grammar, running 1km laps.
James’ grandmother Pop Petersen woke up at 3.30am and spent more than 13 hours standing on the sidelines of the Toowoomba Grammar footy oval.
Ms Petersen’s husband Peter passed away from cancer about seven years ago.
As she watched her grandson run lap after lap she said she could only imagine how proud her husband would have been to see this.
“He always adored Peter,” she said.
“Peter would be so chuffed that he’s having a go, and he would have been very, very proud of him. He doesn’t have to finish for Peter to have been proud of him.”
She said when James first told her he was running the 100km she wasn’t sure he could do it.
“He rang one day and said ‘granny, I’m going to do a 100km run for grandpa’,” she said.
“I said, ‘hey you’ve only ever run 22km, what about you do 50km.’”
But James told his grandma he was determined to run 100km, and now he has done it.
James said there was no way he could have crossed the finish line without the amazing support from his friends, family, and everyone at TGS.
“I finally got it done,” he said.
“At about 50km or 60km I almost thought I was done for and I still had about 40km in front of me.
“I just kept going because, I just thought of grandpa and all the donations and how many people believed in me.”
With the original goal of raising $3500 James has raised close to 10 times his goal and has currently raised more than $32,000.
Ms Peterson, who was brought to tears as he crossed the finish line, said she had been worried for him as she tallied each lap.
“I was pretty sure he would get to 75 but I just wasn’t sure how his body would handle it after that,” she said.
“He seemed to hit the wall for a while and I was really worried then.
“He said the other day ‘grandpa would say keep at it and don’t give up’.”
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