Yarrawonga's Tim Roadley has swapped paddles for runners to raise awareness for a cause with the ability to save lives.
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The 52-year-old kayaker is taking part in the FAST4 Stroke challenge throughout July, completing four major runs which will see him travel the equivalent of Yarrawonga to Wodonga by the end of the month.
Mr Roadley had entered the Run Melbourne half marathon, scheduled for July 26 and chose Stroke Australia as his beneficiary after being inspired by the FAST (face, arms, speech, time) test to recognise signs of stroke.
However, with all major events cancelled as a result of COVID-19 restrictions, he came up with a new approach - four weeks, four runs, one message.
Mr Roadley had planned to enter the Gold Coast Marathon this month and instead completed it virtually by running 42 laps of a course around Yarrawonga's two cricket ovals.
Last week he took on four separate five-kilometre parkruns in Cobram, Yarrawonga and Mulwala and has a 10-kilometre run on the cards this weekend.
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The Yarrawonga Mulwala Multisport event normally takes place in October and Mr Roadley plans to replicate its 10-kilometre run before finishing with a half marathon next weekend, which would have been included in the Murray Quad in November.
Mr Roadley said he's passionate about raising awareness of stroke in the community along with funds for programs to support stroke survivors and their families.
"The awareness of the FAST is my real push behind it," he added.
"You can be a FAST hero if you know the signs and can save someone's life by getting them to hospital as quick as you can.
"Everyone knows somebody who has had a stroke. I was shocked to learn there is one stroke every nine minutes in Australia.
"The disease strikes the brain, the human control centre, and can happen to anyone at any age."
Mr Roadley doesn't plan on stopping with his running and has ambitions to compete in the New York Marathon in the coming years.
"I did a marathon at the start of this year and was trying to get a qualifying time to do one of the big internationals in the next year or two," he said.
"I thought if I'm going to do this, I want to be able to get a time under four hours.
"I got 37 kilometres into this run a couple of weeks ago the cramp came back, but I was under four hours so I was happy with that."
To help Mr Roadley's reach his $4000 goal visit www.doit4stroke.everydayhero.com/au/tim or follow his progress on the Murray Quadrathlon Facebook page.