Boon nears end of 650km charity walk
Published: January 14, 2005
Former Test cricketer David Boon, approaching the end of his epic 650km Tasmanian charity walk, believes he has learnt the ultimate lesson in goal-setting.
“To be able to set your goals each day and to achieve them is a lot easier way to get to an end result than trying to think about the end from the start,” he said.
Boon – who turned 44 during the journey – has just 26km left to cover before he ends his trek from Melbourne to Hobart.
Boon and his wife Pip have been on the road for 19 days. An appearance at Sunday’s international cricket match at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart will complete the 20-day challenge.
Official figures aren’t in yet but Boon is confident the walk would have raised the targeted $400,000 for the Bone Marrow Donor Institute (BMDI), a national charity dedicated to saving the lives of people with leukemia and other cancers.
The former Australian batsman will finish today’s 38-kilometre walk at Sorell, south-west of Hobart, where he will host the last Boonie’s Shout at Pembroke Hotel.
Tomorrow, he will end his quest at Hobart’s Salamanca market place, accompanied by former cricketers Allan Border, Dean Jones and Andrew Startin.
It will mark the end of an experience he has found both challenging and fulfilling.
“The hardest thing is waking up and just walking every single day on the hard road,” he said.
“We were always confident we were going to make it but it was just a matter of how difficult it was going to be and how your body holds up to it.
“The hardest days were probably about days three to five. Even though I’ve been training for five months, I suppose you can do all the pre-season you want but the first time you hit the competition you’re still a bit short.”
The completion of Boon’s Tasmanian odyssey fulfils the Aussie answer to a fundraising challenge thrown down three years ago by former England all-rounder Ian Botham.
Fellow cricketers Allan Border and Dean Jones have already completed their parts of the bargain.
Border completed the Trek for Kids from Sydney to Brisbane, while Jones walked from the SCG to Melbourne in aid of patients suffering from leukemia.
With the east coast of Australia covered, Boon has now thrown down the challenge for cricketers on the western side of the country to hit the bitumen and equal his 650km trek for charity.
“It’s actually a bit more than that but who’s counting when you get to there,” he said.
With only a few goals to go, Boon and his fellow walkers are anticipating Sunday’s reception at Bellerive Oval with mixed feelings.
“I think it will be a sensational day for us. Most of the guys with me haven’t been to Bellerive Oval before and to have absolutely chock-a-block on Sunday at lunchtime, I think it’ll be something that we’ve been thinking about but can’t really put our fingers on how we’re going to feel,” Boon said.
“But I think it will be sensational to walk into what became my home of cricket here in Tasmania. We’re really looking forward to it, I think it’s going to be a huge moment.”
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: