“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.
“I stopped skateboarding, so I wouldn’t hurt myself in the run, but that’s what I’d done my whole life so the muscles I’d built were completely different.”
The feat was the finale of the Gnarly Neighbours chief executive’s 90-day campaign, dubbed the Gnarly90.
Over the course of the three or so months, about $40,000 — to be doubled by a generous match donation — was amassed in support of the Gnarly Neighbours mission, with individuals and teams raising funds by doing their very own Gnarly90 challenges, as well as local sponsors supporting the cause.
For Jayden, the weeks were about preparing for the big run, which was inhibited by his east coast travels, where he stopped in 11 destinations across NSW to spread the Gnarly message.
“I started skating again during my month trip along the NSW coast — that was unreal,” Jayden said.
“I missed my loved ones and I missed the community here, but it was so awesome to meet other communities and find out their needs and see how it (Gnarly Neighbours) could work in other places.
“The response was unreal, like sold-out bookings.”
The run began in Brunswick at the Ramblin’ Man Bar on Sunday, November 16.
Over two days, he ran, hobbled, walked and wondered what he had gotten himself into until he reached the Gnarly Neighbours hub on Crawford St.
His first day was a 47km stretch to Wallan, while the next was a gruelling 50km.
Aided along the way by his son and Jameson Harvey of Red Dirt Robotics, Jayden said he fought through the run by reminding himself of what it was all for.
“My body gave up multiple times, but it was just the thought of, it’s so much greater than me,” he said.
“I’ve said I’m gonna do this, and it’s me showing up.”
When he finally arrived in Station St, he was greeted by a mob of locals, all completing his final stretch alongside him.
“I wanted to come home to the community, I knew it would be big, but I didn’t know how big it was gonna be — it looked like 100 or 200 people there. It was wild,” he said.
“It was like something out of a movie, and the crew here, they were all in tears.
“I’ve really hit the ‘Nedd Brockmann from Temu’ on the head.”
For more information about the Gnarly90, visit gnarly90.com.au
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