Cassie Cohen and Jackson Bursill don’t run in fear but as a way of connecting with those who may have.

The Canberra friends passed through Albury this week as part of their 4000 kilometre run from Cooktown to Melbourne to share stories of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.

Each day Bounding Plains to Share posts the experiences of somebody they have met along their 100-day journey.

The pair, regular endurance runners, hit the road in November and plan to reach Melbourne on March 2. An accompanying fundraising campaign supports the not for profit Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Miss Cohen said both runners liked massive challenges but “we didn’t want it to be all about ourselves”.

After arriving in Albury on Wednesday, the pair joined an Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau English conversation class to meet refugees from the Conga and Bhutan.

Miss Cohen said most of the stories collected touched on past trauma but then focused on what people had achieved since arriving in Australia.

“It’s celebrating how far these people have come based on the really low starting point they had,” she said.

Mr Bursill said the wider community had responded well to the refugee experiences highlighted.

“It’s hard to still bear negative emotions towards these people who come here with nothing but an open heart, hands to work with and feet to walk on,” he said. 

Albury-Wodonga will host the national conference of Rural Australian for Refugees on April 6-8.