Through this year’s City2Surf, the Giants Foundation and Rio’s Legacy Founder Ryan Fowler are aiming to raise thousands of dollars towards building Australia's fourth children’s hospice in Western Sydney.

Determined to go the extra mile, Ryan is set to embark on a personal ultra marathon challenge that will see him run more than 325 kilometres in eight days, beginning in Canberra at the half-time of the Giants’ game against the Hawks on Sunday 4 August and culminating with the iconic 14-kilometre City2Surf on Sunday 11 August.

“I’m looking forward to the crowd sending me off on my journey. It’s eight pretty solid days, I mean I’m no Nedd Brockmann, but I'll be running a marathon a day and giving this my all. I think the average is 42 kilometres a day, the biggest day will be 56 kilometres,” said Ryan.

Ryan’s motivation stems from personal tragedy. In 2018, he lost his son, Rio, to a terminal illness. Determined to make a difference, Ryan founded Rio’s Legacy, an organisation committed to supporting families facing similar challenges.

Ryan Fowler with his son Rio during their stay at Bear Cottage

“During Rio’s illness, Bear Cottage was amazing in looking after him and our family, and we need more places like that for children with life limiting conditions. I’ve done a few runs and challenges since 2018, but I suppose the reason for the physical challenges and the physical initiative is because these kids can't do it themselves, they can't get out there as a lot of these kids are just fighting for a minute, an hour, sometimes days, and they do it with a smile on their face,” he said.

Ahead of this year’s City2Surf, Ryan and Rio’s Legacy have teamed up with the Giants Foundation – one of the event’s leading charities – and Mounties Care with the goal of raising as much money as possible to help build Australia’s fourth children’s hospice.

The funds needed to build the hospice amount to a substantial $30 million. Mounties Care have already kicked off the donations by pledging $3 million, an amount that the Giants Foundation will match.

Through City2Surf and his ultra marathon challenge, Ryan has a goal to raise $50,000 for the hospice. Additionally, all runners registered for City2Surf as a Giants Foundation Charity Superstar will raise vital funds towards the hospice.

“We would love to smash our fundraising targets, but we also want to get people talking, get people behind us and raising awareness. It's a hard thing when you talk about sick kids, let alone sick kids who aren't going to survive. We need to change the conversation and support these families,” he said.

“There is a big need because in Australia, we only have three operating hospices that support families and kids who have a life limiting condition or terminal illness. We've got over 28,000 plus children who are diagnosed with a terminal condition and there's over 400,000 kids who are diagnosed with a rare disease, which may unfortunately lead to a terminal condition. There's a big problem out there. The difference with these hospices’ is they look after you, they nurture your family and get around you. Having  this support during the hardest time of our life is what got our family through.”

Ryan says the need for more children’s hospices in Australia is urgent. In the UK there are over 54 respite hospice’s and in the United States there’s around 8,500. Australia has three.

“If you look at per capita numbers, we should have a least 16,” said Ryan. “This is where we want to make a difference and try to change this. We want to champion sick kids so we can have more facilities that families can go to when they need it.

“One of the best quotes I’ve heard and continue to use is from Bear Cottage’s Nursing Unit Manager, Narelle Martin, who said, ‘families and kids come here to live, they don't come here to die.’ I think that's really amazing, that really resonated with me. We want to create a place where children with a life limiting condition can live, somewhere we can celebrate their lives.”

Ryan says choosing City2Surf as a vehicle to help raise awareness and funds for the new hospice is a no brainer due to the size and heart of the event.

“What the City2Surf is to us, it's simply amazing. It's the greatest funder in the world in terms of the level of awareness it brings, the level of participation it brings. It's second to none,” he said.

“The City2Surf is amazing with how it champions different charities. Rio’s Legacy is one charity but obviously there's so many other needs, and so many other charities out there that do amazing things. This is where an event like City2Surf can galvanise people, anyone can run or walk 14 kilometres, yes, it’s hard but the rewards are worth every step.”

To support Ryan as he embarks on his ultra marathon challenge and donate to the Giants Foundation and Rio’s Legacy campaign to build a new children’s hospice in Western Sydney visit https://city2surf24.grassrootz.com/giantsfoundation/ryan-fowler-1.