Toowoomba Grammar School student to run ultra-marathon for cancer charity Hope Horizons in honour of his late grandfather

Named after a winning racehorse, this Toowoomba Grammar School student was destined to run but he is about to take it to a whole new level by running a 100km ultra-marathon to honour his late grandfather.

A year 12 Toowoomba Grammar student is taking on a gruelling 100km ultra-marathon to raise money for cancer support, in honour of his late grandfather.

After a 100km team run was proposed in a school assembly, TGS boarder James Petersen decided he wanted to run the full distance by himself.

James is running for his grandfather Peter Petersen, who passed away seven years ago from cancer, as wella as TGS headmaster John Kinniburgh’s wife who is currently fighting brain cancer, and everyone else in the community that is suffering against the disease.

He said he wants to do his grandfather proud.

“My grandparents are half the reason why I’m at this school,” he said.

“To do this for my grandpa means the world to me.

“I can’t wait to look down at my watch and see I’m at 99km.

“Crossing that finish line will be amazing.”

James Petersen training for his 100km run on his blackall property over the school holidays.

James said if his grandfather was still around to see him do this he would’ve told him to do his best and finish that race.

“Finish it. Don’t half do it,” James imagines his grandfather telling him.

“Keep punching along.”

James has already doubled his fundraising goal of $3500 and he has currently raised $7979 which will be donated to Toowoomba cancer support charity Hope Horizons, the organisation that has helped Mr and Ms Kinniburgh.

“I’ve had a few chats with him and understanding that his wife is unwell and he said they’ve been really helpful throughout these struggles so I wanted to raise money towards Hope Horizons,” he said.

James Petersen after running his longest run to date on his blackall property, in training for his ultra-marathon.

Over the last two or three months James has done days on days of training, much of it on his family property in Blackall. His longest run so far has been 50km.

During his training James had to weigh himself but after realising their scales were broken he had to find a creative alternative.

“I had to use the work cattle crush scales, which was interesting but it got the job done,” he said.

“We did have to shovel away a lot of manure.”

TGS alumni Lachlan Stuart, who is known for running 58 marathons in 58 days, will be joining James for part of his run.

James will start his run at 4am on May 28.

He hopes to cross the finish line later that day with his other peers who are running in the G150 Gift Run, which is a year 12 Legacy project.

Donate for James’ run at https://bears-big-100km-challenge.raiselysite.com/#donate