Scott digs deeper for Great Walk

With 2.5km to go in the 42.19km journey, Scott Guerini felt as if he was dragging his family’s tractor down Koolyanobbing-Southern Cross Road as his exhausted legs fatigued.

However as his mum Nicole, father Gary and brother Damien provided words of support while they followed in tow, Scott gritted his teeth to complete the 11th annual Scott’s Great Walk for Telethon.

“It was extremely tough this year,” Scott said after the 42.19km walk from his family’s grain farm near Southern Cross to the Southern Cross oval.

Scott finished the gruelling distance in 6 hours and 28 minutes on Monday’s WA Day public holiday, 22 minutes quicker than last year.

“It was definitely tougher than usual because my gym has been closed, so I haven’t trained as much,” Scott said.

“It felt like I was dragging something heavy behind me and my body was screaming at me to stop.

“As the town become visible it got tougher, but the support from my family boosted me along ... I also thought about the fundraising and how it will help others, and that motivated me.”

Scott and his family founded Scott’s Great Walk for Telethon in 2010 when he was four years old.

At the time, he wanted to raise money to help sick children by completing the hardest task he could think of — walking 25km from the 9300ha farm to Southern Cross oval.

The now-14-year-old has finished 11 walks — seven of which were full 42.19km marathons — and covered more than 700km to raise $181,000 for Telethon, including $4000 so far from this year’s walk.

Mrs Guerini was overwhelmed with her son’s charitable contribution. “Scott went really well,” she said. “He went 22 minutes quicker than last year after pushing pretty hard and setting a quick pace.

“He dug deep in the final section, and even ran the last 600m, before collapsing on the oval — it was a big effort.”

As of Tuesday morning, Scott had raised $4000 for the 2020 Telethon. The total included a $2500 donation from Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources, which oversees the Koolyanobbing iron ore mine.