THE RECORD RUN CHASE
Setting a world record for most lengths of a cricket pitch run in 24 hours in full cricket gear to raise money for Anaphylaxis research.
FRIDAY OCT 4 10am—
SATURDAY OCT 5 10am.
BALNARRING CRICKET CLUB.
Hi, my name is Alex Wadelton. My son Roarke has anaphylaxis to wheat, rye, barley, and nuts. He also LOVES cricket. In fact, we both do.
So, I thought, why not try and raise some money for a cure, while playing the sport we both have a shared love for?
So, I'm aiming to do something very big and very dumb:
To set a new world record for most lengths of a cricket pitch run in 24 hours in full cricket gear: pads, gloves, bat... everything.
And, to raise $20,000 for the National Allergy Centre of Excellence, hosted at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
(That’s us in the picture celebrating the recent Under 14 premiership for the mighty Balnarring Cricket Club in the Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association, where I coached and he was awarded player of the Grand Final.)
I’m aiming to score 6996 runs... that’s how many runs the great Don Bradman scored in his 52 Test career.
Roarke has had multiple brushes with death, many life-saving injections with an epi-pen, and is always on high alert outside of our house because wheat is EVERYWHERE.
Cricket is his safe place. A place where he’s not the tragic kid with anaphylaxis, but the kid who is an absolute cricket tragic.
All money raised will go towards research into anaphylaxis to wheat, rye, barley and nuts.
Some facts:
Australia is the allergy capital of the world with more than five million people living with allergies. Australia has the highest rates of childhood food allergy globally, with one child in every classroom impacted. Currently, there is no cure for food allergy.
The National Allergy Centre of Excellence at MCRI is leading the way in helping find new treatment and prevention options.
A SHORT STORY ABOUT ROARKE, ANAPHYLAXIS, AND a NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE
I looked into my son Roarke’s tear-soaked eyes, then at my wife Sheridan's panicked face, and we all thought the same thing: he was going to die.
As a treat we had decided to have some wheat-free hot-cross buns. They looked good.
When he bit into one of the buns he said, “Gee this tastes good. Are you sure it’s gluten free?”
You see Roarke had anaphylaxis to wheat and nuts, and he’s on constant high-alert.
He just knew something was wrong. We looked at the ingredients and saw in tiny print: rye. This was the day we discovered he was allergic to rye too.
Roarke was only three years old at the time, and we thought that using an epi-pen was a last resort, so we rushed him into the shower to try and cool his body.
A body now dotted with red, angry hives.
And they were spreading. Fast.
He could hardly breathe...
His face reddened.
Then, in the blink of an eye… he couldn’t breathe at all.
I could tell he was thinking, “I’m dying. Please help.”
Sheri and I looked at each other and knew it was time. She got me to hold Roarke as he shook with fear, removed the epi-pen from its case, and raised it up.
She then stabbed down into his thigh as Roarke writhed with pain.
As instructed, she kept the syringe in his leg for five seconds.
Then, he went limp.
Moments later, he gasped out.
He was alive.
He was going to be okay.
This wasn’t his first brush with death.
When he was just 14 months old, I was away for work for Cricket Australia in India, and when I called to say hello, the first thing Sheri said was, “Don’t worry, Roarke’s okay… but we’re in hospital”.
We think that Roarke, still too young to walk, had crawled over and helped himself to one of our dog’s biscuits. He went into anaphylactic shock and only the fast thinking of his nanna Rosemary calling an ambulance had saved his life.
Every single time we order a meal outside of home we double, then triple-check, that his food has been made entirely gluten-free.
It’s a constant medical ordeal… and I can only imagine the stress that poor Roarke must be under.
Imagine every time you ate a meal, you worried that it may be the one that kills you.
He does have a safe space though. Cricket.
Cricket is where Roarke is no longer the kid with a tragic allergy… he’s the cricket mad tragic.
Which is why I’m doing THE RECORD RUN CHASE: as I aim to set a world record for most lengths of a cricket pitch run in 24 hours in full cricket gear.
Roarke will bowl the first ball to me at 10am on Friday October 4, and then I’ll run up and down the pitch until 10am Saturday October 5.
My aim is to get to 6996 runs (equal to the great Sir Donald Bradman’s career run total).
I also hope to raise at least $20,000 for the National Allergy Centre of Excellence, hosted at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI)
It will be bloody hard. But not as hard as living with a life-threatening condition for which there is no cure.
OTHER PROJECTS I’VE DONE
I love doing things that help people. And I love having fun doing them. Here’s just a small selection of stuff I’ve made. You can see a heap more at this here site :)
The Nicky Winmar Statue.
I came up with the idea and then with my mate Aaron Tyler (and a lot of help from Tanya Hosch at the AFL) we were able to turn it into a reality. It now stands proudly outside Perth’s Optus Stadium.
Plucking my hair out for Camp Quality
This was the first dumb idea that I did for charity. Camp Quality do incredible work for kids with cancer, and they were there when my son Roarke had some troubles in hospital when he was a baby. Raised almost $10k and lead to another cool idea: Christmas Crack-Ups where we got comedians to write the Christmas cracker jokes.
This raised $160,000+ in 6 weeks.
World Record for Longest Duration Touching Tongue to Nose.
I set a new world record for this very prestigious title to raise money for a friend with cancer, but more importantly to make her laugh :)
Dancing a marathon during the world’s longest COVID lockdown.
I raised just over $40,000 in one night doing The Melbourne Shuffle Marathon homelessness charity the Lighthouse Foundation.
Selling a Teddy Bear for $80,000+
When my daughter got diagnosed with epilepsy, I decided to do something. That something was creating the world’s fanciest bear and encouraging Aussies to Share in the Bear.
MY TEDx TALK
As you can see from the above, I’ve done lots of “dumb” things in my time. At the start of the year I did a talk at the inaugural TEDxMornington and it was chosen as an editor’s pick by TEDx global, which is pretty rad!
Almost 30,000 people have already watched.
If you want to see more stuff I’ve done, go to stuffbyalexwadelton.com
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Yep, I apart from doing ludicrous fundraisers infused with The Power of Dumb, I also run workshops, do coaching, and mentor people and businesses wanting to create a life full of meaning through being WHOLE-HEARTED in every aspect of work and life.
Email me at the button below and let’s make magic happen!