Marathon Men

Often, it’s only when you run for a purpose greater than yourself that you can go further and faster than you thought possible. Here, five indefatigable men reveal the joys and struggles of running for a reason

- Daniel Williams And Ben Jhoty

50 Shades of Pain

The sudden death of a mate, followed by an encounter with the world’s most charismatic motivational speaker, inspired Sean Bell to run 50 marathons in 50 days

NAME: Sean Bell

AGE: 21

LIVES: Melbourne, VIC

RUN: 50 marathons in 50 days

“To understand why I did this, you need to know a little bit about Joey Moschetti. In 2016, he and I were teammates at the Vermont Football Club in Melbourne. It was Joey’s first season at the club and straight away he made an impression. At training he was the sort of guy who’d shake everyone’s hand – sometimes multiple times to make sure he got around to everybody. He wasn’t the best player in the team, but he had an enormous heart and tried so hard. He just loved the culture of footy and loved all the boys, and everyone loved him back. He and I bonded over footy and a shared love of the Richmond Tigers.

One Friday night in July, 2016 he went to bed – no doubt excited to come to footy the next day – and didn’t wake up. It was a complete shock for everyone because he was a healthy kid of 18. The doctors say they don’t know what happened and that we’ll never know.

At the end of that season, in honour of Joey, the club instituted the ‘Moe Award’, which would go to the player who best lived his values of hard work, mateship and empathy. I won it, and Joey’s dad presented it to me. I didn’t know it at the time, but that moment changed my life. That night was the first time I’d met his parents, and we became friends. They’d invite me over for dinner every couple of months and I’d hear their sad stories about losing friends after Joey’s passing. This happens a lot to parents who lose a child. People don’t know what to say and end up drifting away.