Cruze takes Boggabri to Gunnedah in his stride

Prior to taking up the challenge of national television’s Australian Ninja Warrior program, 18-year-old Boggabri’s Cruze Morley recently set off on a 42km walk to raise funds for Gunnedah CanAssist.

Cruze has been training to compete in the current season of Australian Ninja Warrior so when Kylie Devine suggested that he take on the gruelling walk from Boggabri to Gunnedah to raise funds for the Gunnedah Can Assist group he didn’t think twice.

Cruze had amazing support from his family.

His mum Karen Morley made sure he had food and water, his dad Jason Douglas drove the escort vehicle, his brother Fynlay Morley walked with Cruze and carried the donation buckets most of the way – he probably did more kilometres than Cruze by the time he walked over to the cars who pulled up on both sides of the road to collect the donations then caught up with Cruze again.

Cruze’s other brother Fletcher Morley, drove a support vehicle, and his sisters Paris and Myami Morley were full of praise and support.

At the start Cruze had Col (Mad Dog) Gillham there to cheer him on.

Mad Dog has done the Boggabri Gunnedah walk a couple of times for charity – and still bears the scars of no toenails from his first walk many years ago.

Pete Brien, Cruze’s manager/support person and mentor walked across the bridge and then drove his truck with the ‘warped wall’ securely strapped on the back.

Another fantastic effort was from Kai Poole who at just 14 years of age walked all the way from Boggabri to Gunnedah with Cruze.

Not to be outdone, Polly the dog had a short walk with Cruze before she retired to the comfort of the support vehicle with Pete.

A large crowd gathered 12 kilometres out of Gunnedah where Kylie Devine had set up a donation centre and Pete and his helpers had set up the warped wall.

When Cruze arrived an extra incentive for people to donate was to see Cruze run up the warped wall.

On the last 12 kilometres Digger and Cameron Valks and Jeremiah Heart joined Cruze, Fynlay, and Kai.

As Cruze approached Gunnedah, he was met and escorted to Wolseley Park by the Gunnedah NSW Fire and Rescue engine.

Pete had again set up the warped wall and the chant went up, ‘beat the wall, beat the wall’.

After walking 42 kilometres, one would think that his legs would be too tired, but Cruze tackled the wall and with what appeared to be very little effort he was up on top, much to the delight of the cheering crowd.

Cruze said he was amazed by the support he has had and there were too many to thank individually but he really appreciated the effort everyone had put into help him with his fundraising effort.

While the final figure is not known, thanks to this amazing effort Gunnedah Can Assist will received a donation of about $4000.

Can Assist is a volunteer run organisation that can provide financial assistance towards accommodation, travel, meals, utilities, homecare. Above all they are caring people, most of whom have been through cancer or have had family with cancer.

“Cruze did a wonderful job, he is an inspiration to everyone, to any age group,” Gunnedah Can Assist president Kate Knight said.

“All our funds are used locally to support people who have

cancer treatment. When I say locally, I mean Gunnedah, Boggabri, Curlewis, Premer, Carroll, and all the area around Gunnedah.

“We are all volunteers, and we provide our services to bridge the gap between city and country patients,

giving people with cancer in rural and regional areas in NSW the opportunity to have fair and equitable access to cancer care and support services.

“We encourage people to contact us if they would like some help,” she said.