Some Extra Special Thank You's

Hi Everyone,

we have started the process of writing to all our wonderful, friends, family and supporters who helped us achieve our result.

However we wanted to use this forum as an opportunity to highlight some people whose contribution went far beyond amazing.

To the Epilepsy Qld team, you are amazing and your unending support to Sophie and us makes us proud to be associated with you. Particularly Helen, Susan, Marg, Judy, Yvette and of course Sophie's favorite Little Poss !!

To Eatons Hill State school, we cannot have asked for any more support. To all the teachers and support staff, thank you so much for volunteering your time and also for bringing the children down to share in the excitement. Particular thanks to Principal Clyde Campbell, Deputy Principals Helen Henrich and Marg McKinnon, Nicola & John Moores (thanks again for the "special cream"), Mary-Ann Mellor, Melinda Iacovella, Nicole Bird, Renee Wilkie, Cathy Leslie, Leigh Page, Lorna McCumstie and Mara Graham for their great help both on the day and with the education of our children.

To our parents, thank you so much for your support leading up to and during the event, there were certainly times where we needed some inspiration to get us through and you provided it. And also for tending to our wounds and helping us recuperate in the days following the event.

To our donors, thank you so much, we have been astounded and humbled by the generosity of so many to the point where we do not want to single anyone or group out, rather just reiterate a sincere thanks for your help.

To our sponsors, your support was invaluable, Particularly Skins (our major sponsor) who were awesome and whose product helped us not just achieve but survive the gruelling 24 hours. Also thanks to Woolworths at Warner, Westfield Strathpine, Fitness First at Fortitude Valley.

To the media, a huge thanks to 612 ABC Brisbane, your coverage was awesome !! Particular thanks to Spencer Howson, Rebecca Levingston, Anne O'Keeffe and Kelly Higgins-Devine. Also to Rod Tiley and Faith Jarvis at 4BC's afternoon program, thank you so much for your assistance. Also the team at Quest Newspapers, thanks for your excellent print and video coverage. And to Lee at the Westerner for your very clever and well-thought-out articles.

To Rox Gorman, your expertise and creative genius as our marketing and publicity guru was so valuable and helped us so much. Your assistance under trying circumstances only strengthened our admiration and friendship.

To the many people who walked with us for extended periods during the walk, particularly David Puxty, Fabio & Nat Pavanello, the Lords XI cricket team, Colleen Owen, Laine (thanks so much for the massage) Rozanne Burley, the Qld Roar boys. And to Glen Archer for his selfless act in helping us out with medical supplies, without this we probably would not have made it through the night.

And to our own wonderful children, who put up with Mum & Dad being not as involved in their lives as usual while were training and for their understanding and love before, during and after the walk, you are the ones who understand better than anyone that we are just normal people who tried to make a difference.

We realise there will be some people we will have missed in this note and for that we sincerely apologise, please know however your efforts have been absolutely both appreciated and worthwhile.

Love to all,

Sue & Steve

PS - we will post more blogs as developments with Guinness World Records continue

3 weeks on ! Donations still open till 18 Dec !

We have just returned from a relaxing (and much needed) holiday on the Gold Coast. While the walk is more than just a memory, 3 weeks does seem like a long time ago. We are finalising all the verification needed to send to Guinness so the record can be verified.

And more importantly we are slowly getting through the best task of all which is thanking our donors and supporters.

The blisters are now almost gone and the important job is now trying to raise some more funds and try and reach our $5000 target.

You may have seen the report about epilepsy on Sunrise which was great in raising awareness.

Anyway, love to all.

Sue & Steve

6 days later

Hi Everyone,

can you believe its been nearly a week already since our walk when we were able (just) to set a new world record (pending confirmation) of 100.13km.

The good news is that both of us are virtually healed from a medical perspective, the blisters are clearing up and the muscle fatigue is not so bad. We are still very tired but we figure it might take a week or two for that to resolve itself.

What has been heartening though is the ongoing level of support. We keep saying that if we wrote a book about our walk and called it "We couldn't do it without...." the book would be filled with pages and pages of names and stories about people who made such a significant contribution that we would not have succeeded without them.

We'd like to use this blog as one small way of thanking the amazing and generous support of so many people and organisations so bear with us over the next few weeks while we try and do just that. We'll also start to gather some of the amazing coverage of our walk so that we can share it with our supporters.

Of course, it's not too late to donate so please do feel free to help us achieve our fundraising goal, we aren't too far away from achieving it.

Remember you can click on "view all posts" below for a full history of our walk.

And we'd love to hear from you also if you have a story you'd like to share or a message. Feel free to email us eltis5@bigpond.com

Thanks again,

Sue & Steve

We DID IT !!

Hi everyone, we write this in a state of sheer and absolute mental and physical exhaustion. A massive 323 laps of the 310m circuit means we are the new world record holders !!!

The old record stood at 32.93km, the new (pending confirmation) record is.........wait for it..........100.13km.

It has been the most amazing 24 hours in a long, long time for us. The friendships, the generosity, the community spirit and the teamwork to make this event happen was beyond our wildest dreams and has been a humbling experience for all concerned.

We'll write more over the next few days but for now we'd like to thank our family, the amazingly talented and supportive staff at Eatons Hill State School led by tireless Principal Clyde Campbell, the wonderful team at Epilepsy Qld and all the helpers (including first aid suppliers and administerers) and supporters who made this event possible.

We are both in a state of physical disrepair. Massive blisters on our feet and lower limbs that can barely move characterise our physical situation. Mentally though, we are over the moon about what this event has been able to achieve in terms of our goals which were raising awareness about Epilepsy and funds for our great friends at Epilepsy Qld.

More to come......

Remember to click on "view all posts" to read a history of our event.

Love to all,

Sue & Steve

2 Hours till we start

Hi, we are packing our gear and getting ready to head off to the school. We are both really nervous but keen to get it underway. We know how much support we've got and although we are nervous, its a good feeling of excitement and wanting to not let ourselves or others down.

We once again want to thank everyone for their tremendous support, generosity and confidence in us.

And if we can do it, anyone can !!

We'll try and put some posts up later during the event.

Wish us luck,

Sue & Steve

Tomorrow is the big day

Hi All,

we are just about to go to bed the night before our big walk. It feels like Christmas Eve so we are so nervous that we might have a disturbed sleep tonight.

In any case, we are looking forward to the big day tomorrow. We hope to update this blog during the event so log back on and check our progress.

Thanks so much to all the people who have helped make this event happen.

Remember to click on "view all posts below" to see a history of our walk.

Cheers, S & S

48 hours to go

With less than 48 hours to go, we can't wait to get started. It's a bit like planning a wedding with all the logistics of sponsors, witnesses, helpers, media coverage etc to organise. Most of that stuff is done now so it's time to concentrate on the physical and mental challenges associated with an endurance event like this. We've got professional advice on what to eat and drink during the 24 hours so you'll probably see us snacking on fruit and eating lots of brown pasta and rice.

The weather forecast looks great, and we are hoping for lots of people to come out and watch as we attempt to break the world record for three-legged walking at Eatons Hill State School. It will be a great 24 hours with heaps of activities for young and young at heart including a fancy dress disco, art auction and Qld Roar soccer clinic. And of course you can also do some laps three-legged, just bring or find a partner and get into the spirit.

We start walking at 11.40am on Friday 24 October and hope to pass the record between 5.30pm and 7.30pm that evening and we'd love to see you there. We'll have representatives from the media there and hopefully you might see one or two celebrities drop in during the 24 hours. We'll still be going on Saturday morning till nearly noon and we plan to have a BBQ at the end to celebrate so if you can't make it Friday, do drop in on Saturday morning.

The friendly team from Epilepsy Qld will be there to help out and accept donations on the day, of course its easy to use this website to donate also if you'd like to and using the website you can also leave us a message so we can thank you personally after the event.

Remember you can track the history of our walk by clicking below on "view all posts".

Hope to see you there,

Sue & Steve

5 days to go !

Hi Everyone,

well with 5 days to go we are starting to really wind up to the big event. Sophie did brilliantly today talking in front of 400 people at an Epilepsy Qld function so surely walking for 24 hours can't be that much harder !!

All the preparations seem to be just about under control (except the weather) so it's all systems go. We have had advice to take it relatively easy this week with just light training. A bit like the "taper" that the Olympic swimmers do. Rest assured we won't be shaving down just before the event or being stitched into bodysuits.

We are just hoping for a great day with lots of fun and generous donors because we know how important it is to help out Epilepsy Qld.

Click on "view all posts" to see a history of our event.

Love to all,

Sue & Steve

Sore Legs

Hi Everyone,

wow, what a weekend. We got out and seriously hit the streets getting some km's under our belt. We've covered over 70km's in two days which sounds impressive, but in less than 2 weeks, we need to cover that distance in less than 24 hours !!

The weather has played its part too, ranging from heat and humidity to pouring rain, so we feel like we are prepared for almost anything.

Also, don't forget if you are in the area on the 24th or 25th, come on down and join in with us, I think we'll need your help !!

Click on "view all posts" to see a bit of the history of our challenge.

Cheers, Sue & Steve

Animal Attacks During Training

Hi all,

well, what a week its been. We've really ramped up our training this week, now that there's only 15 days to go.

It hasn't been easy, putting in the hard yards and starting to do 30km walks. This weekend we plan to walk 30km each on Saturday and a 40km walk during next week.

Unexpectedly, the hardest part has been avoiding magpie attacks. Both of us have been swooped on several times, and it would make a great funny home video if anyone ever taped it.

We are also ramping up our fundraising efforts, particularly with our corporate sponsors this week, so hopefully they will continue to be generous.

Cheers,

S & S

Skins Comes on Board As a Major Sponsor

Hi,
after a relaxing weekend, we are back into full training again this week, including walking during the 35 degree day in Brisbane yesterday.

The great news is that compression garment specialists "Skins" (www.skins.net) have come on board as a major sponsor. They have been really generous in donating equipment for us to wear durng the event as well as items to be raffled to raise money.

Their stuff is excellent and helped in us improving our time in the Bridge to Brisbane 10km run by over 20 minutes. Check out their website for more.

Click on "View all posts" to see our full blog.

Cheers, Sue & Steve

Training Update

Hi everyone,

one month to go to the big event. Both of us are in full training now. Over the weekend we hope to get down to the school and practice on the oval. A few minor injuries earlier in the week seem to have cleared up, and its all looking good at this stage.

Click on "View all posts" to see our progress to date.

Cheers, Sue and Steve

Three Legs Can Make a Huge Difference to 85,000 people

Over 85,000 Queenslanders are affected by epilepsy. Here's our chance to "bring epilepsy out of the shadows" and help in a meaningful way.

From around midday on the 24th of October at Eatons Hill State School, we will be attempting to break the World record for the greatest distance walked three-legged in 24 hours. By doing this we are aiming to raise funds to help Epilepsy Qld who have been so good to us in helping Sophie and many others.

We'd love to see lots of people joining in three-legged walking with us so come on down and say hello !!

Any donation you make is truly gratefully received and will make a huge difference in the work of Epilepsy Qld. Thanks so much for your support. It means a lot to my family and so many others !


Please leave us a post on this site with your comments so we can thank you personally.

Cheers, Sue & Steve Eltis