Man's marathon mission for burn centre | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

Dave Walker is a man on a mission making a stopover in Rotorua as part of his 716km Cape2Cape marathon run.

The ultra-marathon runner has set himself an extreme challenge to raise money for the National Burn Centre at Middlemore Hospital.

Mr Walker began his run on January 5 from Cape Rd in New Plymouth and arrived in Rotorua from Taupo yesterday.

He was met by Rotorua firefighters Geoff Carter, Shane Newcombe and Nigel Baker at the Rotorua's City Focus who shook some buckets around to help raise money for his cause. His mission is to run from Taranaki to Hicks Bay, covering 716km in 11 days.

So far, he has run 406km.

Mr Walker, who was treated at the burn centre as a child, wants to raise $30,000 as a thank you for the work they did for him. "As a burns victim in my very early years, I always wanted to become more involved in helping the National Burn Centre at Middlemore Hospital and the specialists in some way," he said. "I needed to say 'thank you' for the great work they did with me when I was very young and delivered to them in what I am told a fairly harrowing condition."

Upon arriving in Rotorua, Mr Walker needed physio and said he was grateful to Rotorua physiotherapist Daren Griffiths for providing him with a free massage.

He said they had been lucky with the amount of support they'd had from businesses, including being provided with a free campervan for the trip.

With five more days to go, Mr Walker said the hard yards were over and he was looking forward to hitting the East Coast. "I've heard the coastal roads are lovely, I've never been there before," he said.

To learn more about Mr Walker's challenge and to keep updated, visit www.manonfire.co.nz.