August 14

Ron Grant and the World Harmony Run team have something very special in common: both have run around the entire continent of Australia. The difference, of course, is that Ron did it solo – and he was the first person ever to do it – back in 1983.

It took many years of ultra-running before Ron to attempted this history feat. He ran marathons, 50-mile races and a series of solo ultras including:

• 1979 Sydney to Brisbane a distance of 1012 km (breaking the record set by the great Victorian Ultra-runner Tony Rafferty). 
• 1980 Birdsville Track, again breaking Tony Rafferty’s record 505 km 
• 1981 Caboolture to Gympie and return (200 miles)
• 1981 Simpson desert - winter (379 km) 
• 1981 Winton to Longreach Ron v horses (112 miles – 23:20)
• 1982 Cairns to Townsville (350 km)

Then in 1983 Ron ran around Australia. Ron’s run was in an anticlockwise direction, starting in Brisbane, then to Townsville, Mt Isa, Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney back to Brisbane. Ron completed the circumnavigation of 13,383 km in 217 days for an overall daily average of 61.67km.

Soon after this achievement, he was awarded the Queensland Sportsman of the year Award (1983), Queenslander of the Year (1984) and Order of Australia (1984).

Then he was at it again:

• 1985 First ever summer crossing of the Simpson Desert on foot (3:20:35). 
• 1986 Race against Tony Rafferty across the Simpson Desert, again in Summer. Ron won in a new record time of 3:17:52. 
• 1989 Established a new 1,000 hour record, running 2.5km each and every hour for 1,000 hours.
• 1992 Ran 3km/hour for 1,000 consecutive hours.

In a period of 30 years, Ron has run 147,692 km, averaging 96 km/week.

Chronic back pain which accompanied him through out his long running career force him to give up competitive running. However, he continued to inspire the running community by organising ultra-races, like the 1000-mile track race at Nanango in 1994.

Ron was also instrumental in establishing other well known Queensland races, in particular the Nanango five-day stage race (330 km), the Nanango State Forest Race (50km) and the Caboolture Dusk to Dawn 12-hour race. Ron was also the first President of the Qld Ultra Runners Club Inc.

Interesting there is an other thing that Ron and the World harmony Run team have in common – they are vegetarians. When Ron visited Perth in 1964 to attend the Commonwealth Games, he was extremely inspired by swimmer Murray Rose, a strict vegetarian. Such was the effect that Ron changed his eating habits for life, realising that proper nutrition and an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals was essential for sound performance.

Ron has been an inspiration to all, to strive for goals beyond personal limits. He is a real torch-bearer for a better world.