Kiwi adventurer Malcolm Law climbs 50 mountains in 50 days

As part of a fund-raising initiative for New Zealand's Mental Health Foundation, Malcolm Law ran 50 off-road marathons, while climbing 50 peaks in 50 consecutive days, covering 1,659km in an epic feat of endurance in his country.

Kiwi adventurer Malcom (Mal) Law finished what was potentially the most epic feat of endurance ever achieved on New Zealand soil, running 50 mountain marathons in 50 consecutive days.

Law’s journey started on February 7, the Tarawera Ultramarathon in Rotorua and finished on March 29 at the Partners Life DUAL Marathon on Motutapu and Rangitoto islands in Auckland.

Over the 50 days, Law travelled all across New Zealand in a journey that saw him climbing some of the most remote peaks in the country. He covered a total of 1,659km and climbed 81,779m (the equivalent of over 9 Mt Everests). Law had to overcome a chest infection, a knee injury and cope with the tragic loss of a close friend and continue his “relentless forward motion” for a total of 427 hours on his feet.

He may have been the only one to climb every single mountain but he did not do it on his own. Law had a legion of support runners joining him at different stages of the challenge and entire communities supporting him wherever he was.

“A truly special feature of our journey was the people we met along the way and the cascade of goodness that flowed our way from them,” said Law. “We experienced hundreds of moments of kindness and generosity that reaffirmed for us what makes this little country of ours so special: the warmth and spirit of the people who inhabit it.”

Law created the Partners Life High Five-0 Challenge for Mental Health with the purpose of promoting the outdoors as a way of staying mentally healthy, as well as raising money for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. His initial $250,000 goal was reached before he even started running and he crushed his revised $400,000 target a week before finishing the challenge. He is now working towards raising a total of $505,050 for the charity, an unprecedented fundraising effort in New Zealand.

“I am truly humbled by how New Zealand stood behind me and helped make this personal dream of mine such a great success. It is a true testament to the kindness of all New Zealanders and, from grand gestures to token ones, we saw the best of people everywhere we went in the last 50 days,” he added.

From Press Release

Feature Image: http://www.high50.org.nz/

Read more about Mal here