Last weekend, Shake It Up supporter, David Cox, and a team of friends walked from Manly to Bondi in a huge marathon effort for Parkinson’s, raising over $6,000 on the way.

David is no stranger to long walks, having completed Sydney to Dubbo for Shake It Up in 2018 and is also signed up for the Bay of Fires trek later this year.

David also wore a new prototype device by Walking Tall Health designed to help people with Parkinson’s on the marathon walk. Walking Tall Health is a med-tech startup. Founding partners include UNSW Founders, The George Institute for Global Health and NeuRA. Dr Matthew Brodie is a neuroscientist, engineer and Senior Lecturer at UNSW’s Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, where he leads the non-invasive stimulation Neuro-Rehabilitation theme. For more information about Walking Tall Health: http://walkingtallhealth.com.au

We spoke with David to hear more about how the walk went on the weekend:

Our goal was to walk the marathon distance of 42.6 kms from Bondi Beach to Manly in a day. In the end there were six hardy souls who gathered down at the beach at 6:15am on a beautiful crisp Autumn morning. After taking on board some extra fuel in the form of croissants and pastries we set off from Bondi Beach just after the Anzac Day dawn service finished at 6:45.

With spirits high we headed up through Dover Heights and down to Watsons Bay before turning back towards the city via Vaucluse and hit the 10kms mark at Nielsen Park. We then walked around the foreshore via Rose Bay,Double Bay and Wooloomooloo towards the Botanical Gardens and Circular Quay. 22kms down and with some in the team starting to show some signs of wear and tear.

Up and over the bridge and down to Anderson Park to catch up with Clyde Campbell and then on up to Mosman. At the 27kms mark things really start to become difficult however the team remained good humoured as we headed down to Balmoral. 30kms down and then up the famed Awaba St which is arguably the biggest , steepest hill in Sydney.

We then rolled down the hill to the Spit Bridge – 33kms down and 3pm.  After a much needed pitstop we headed off in the last section of the walk , the 10kms Spit to Manly walk.

Our second group of 16 people made up family and friends had set off on their Spit to Manly walk earlier at 1pm. Unlike this fresh legged second group we ‘marathoners’ were too exhausted to fully appreciate the glorious afternoon and views over the harbour . We just wanted to get there as quickly as possible at this point.

So at 5pm we staggered in to Manly and ticked over 43.0 kms exactly at Manly Wharf! It was a huge effort by all ( 3 of the marathoners aged over 60 )! We were absolutely shattered but delighted to have made it.

An evening of celebration with all 21 of us followed and not surprisingly plenty of stories were told.

Thanks to all the team and all our supporters by the time we finished we had raised a bit over $6,500 for Parkinsons Research with some more to come over the next few days.

Well done all!

Hear more about David’s Parkinson’s story.

Find out how you can get involved with fundraising and speed up a cure for Parkinson’s. Check out our ‘Get Involved’ page today!