A pair of expats in Bali are cooking up an ultra marathon to help give back to the community and put seven disadvantaged youth through their entire primary school education.
Putting on Bali’s first Coast-to-Coast Ultra on August 19-20, the British and Russian behind the fundraiser will run 84km from Tejakula on Bali’s northeastern coast to Canggu, a booming coastal village north from Seminyak.
The British half of the equation, Tom Hickman, posted a video to his Facebook page on July 29, promoting the ultramarathon and detailing the motivation behind the run, which he says has a goal of AUD10,000 (USD7,800).
“Having been in Bali three years and living this amazing life, I really got a sense that I need a bigger purpose,” wrote Hickman, continuing that he and his Russian running mate posed the question, how could they take their running hobby and “do something bigger?”.
The answer: run from one coast of Bali to another and partner with local organizations to offer a handful of kids—seven to be exact—from a more rural part of the island that few tourists ever encounter, a chance to study all the way through primary school.
“With regards to Bali in the North and west and east, there is still high poverty areas, with a number of kids that don’t have access to education,” says Classroom of Hope founder, Darren Ward in the event’s video.
“The funds that Tom raises will be funding seven of these young kids to get all the way through primary education. These are kids who otherwise would not be in school.”
Hickman hopes to make the ultra an institution in Bali, as a way for expats to keep on giving back. Growing interest in the run makes that seem likely. Some runners have pledged to run the last 10K stretch to Canggu along with the ‘ultra’ pair, Hickman told Coconuts Bali.
“I think a really strong intention we have is to build an infrastructure so we can do it again next year. So we can turn Bali Coast to Coast Ultra into something that we can do every year on a bigger and bigger scale. So we can build something that gives a chance for expats in Bali to give back to Bali every year in a fun and challenging way, that would be amazing.”
Over AUD3,000 (USD2,360) has been raised of Hickman’s AUD10,000 goal, as of writing time. View his fundraiser here.
While they have still got a little ways to go to reach their goal, Hickman says the fundraising won’t end with the race.
“The fundraising is open to December so we are confident of meeting or exceeding it and will be repeating the event in a more organized format next year.
“This is very much just 2 guys taking on a massive challenge.”
The coast-to-coast will be Hickman’s first ultramarathon run. The Brit says that he ran a full marathon “15 years ago, but not much since.”
Here’s a visual of race, posted to the Bali Coast to Coast Ultra Instagram page:
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include responses from Tom Hickman.
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