Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Jon Nabbs, a Kiwi who just ran across Canada to raise money for children’s cancer research and has returned home to do the same in Aotearoa.
On Saturday, March 2, Jon Nabbs completed a 305-day, 7351km run across the entire width of Canada, solo and unsupported.
The gruelling feat raised $123,000 for child cancer research in Aotearoa and Canada and although the run is done, donations continue to pour in.
Nabbs shows no signs of stopping either. In two weeks, the Waikato-born man will run the length of New Zealand and, as he did in Canada, he’ll do it wearing a Superman suit and visiting children in hospital cancer wards along the way.
If this isn’t enough, Nabbs also plans to break the world record for the 2100km run, set by British-born Emma Timmis in 2022. To break the record (approximately 20 days and 17 hours), he’ll have to run more than 101km every day for 20 days straight.
From Waikato farmer to Superman runner
Although Nabbs came from “a pretty sporty family” and had completed a few ultra-marathons, the Kiwi didn’t have a professional running background. What he did have, however, is a good reason to run.
In 2019 “life was tracking along pretty normal” according to Nabbs, who was then living in Germany.
Then, his father was diagnosed with stage three melanoma. Nabbs packed a few boxes and flew home but treatment proved ineffective and stage three quickly became stage four and then terminal, and his father passed away at the beginning of 2020.
One month later, New Zealand went into lockdown and Nabbs hunkered down with his mother in Hamilton. A few weeks later, his typically stoic mother complained about stomach pain and the family was hit with a second cancer diagnosis.
“It was stomach cancer, stage four right off the bat,” he said, and she passed away in May 2021.
When a third cancer diagnosis appeared in his life (this time a young mother and associate who was given four months to live) Nabbs felt an urge he could not ignore to do something more with his life.
“There was clearest, most definable ‘before and after’ moment when I found out,” he said, and one thing in particular came to mind.
“I had always wanted to walk the Te Araroa trail down the length of New Zealand but I had always made excuses, like that something adventurous people do,” he said.
At 3000km from Cape Reinga to Bluff, the walk certainly isn’t for the fainthearted but after enduring the past few years, Nabbs was determined to tackle it.
In summer 2022 he did and fell in love with what he found on the trail; simplicity, adventure and the inspiration it seemed to offer those around him.
Running across Canada
After finishing, Nabbs immediately felt a hunger to do something larger and more gruelling but understood the love of adventure wouldn’t be sufficient motivation.
“I wanted to attach it to something that would have more depth and meaning and would sustain on the harder days,” he said.
Reflecting on recent years, that “something” was clear; cancer research.
“My folks’ journey with cancer treatments and chemotherapy were pretty hellish but they were a lot less hellish than they would’ve been if not for the advances made in cancer research,” Nabbs said.
After considering the cause, he felt called to support pediatric cancer research specifically, as it receives just a fraction of the total funding in New Zealand.
The choice of destination was partly inspired by Terry Fox, a Canadian athlete who lost a leg to cancer and then attempted to run across Canada to raise research funding in 1980, and partly because Canada’s pediatric cancer research is also “screaming out for money”.
Already fit from the Te Araroa, it took Nabbs eight months to go from thinking about running across Canada to doing it; a distance equivalent of 172 back-to-back marathons.
During the 305 days, Nabbs experienced highs, lows (some literal, when temperatures hit -53C) and the kindness of Canadian people.
Whereas he started “knowing not a single person”, he finished the run surrounded by crowds of people who had gathered to celebrate and with memories of those who had welcomed him into their homes, hospital rooms and sports matches.
“I’m just aware of how much of a privilege it has been to be welcomed by their society,” he said, adding that the thought “choked him up”.
Running the length of New Zealand
Most would take having run across Canada as permission to rest a while but Nabbs’ Superman suit is washed and ready to go.
“No rest for the wicked,” he said, adding he would fly down to Bluff next week to do almost exactly what he did in Canada; run far, raise money and try to “put some smiles on some kids’ faces”.
Part of this will involve livestreaming his progress daily so children across Aotearoa can follow along.
“The whole thing now is to take the kids on the adventure, taking them on the journey knowing that I’m going to be stopping and we’re going to be hanging out together,” he said, clarifying that, yes, the runner and his Superman suit gets a wash before visits.
Since chemotherapy and other treatments don’t just feel horrible but are also extremely boring, Nabbs hopes children can be entertained and feel a sense of accomplishment.
Donations can be submitted via the Child Cancer Foundation’s website.