Warrnambool's Hayden Flett completes 365-day running challenge to raise funds for brain cancer

It was a heartening moment when residents lined the streets to cheer Mr Flett on as he capped off his year-long mission to raise funds for brain cancer research.

On Friday, Mr Flett today braved the heat heat to run from Port Fairy to Warrnambool, accompanied by his fiance who rode alongside him.

"To see the community come out was both beautiful and humbling," he said.

"There were several times when I started to think about it and began to just well up. I had to keep telling myself to hang on until the finish line.

"There were spaced out runners along the journey who ran in support of me and there were some that rode with kids on the backs of their bikes. It was all just part of the community here in Warrnambool."

Mr Flett's challenge began when an experiment to see how far his body could be pushed soon became a tribute to his mother.

"I was intrigued by one of my fiancee's friends last year who ran five kilometres a day for the whole year and I was mesmorised by what that would be like to do with no rest days and fitting that in with work.

"I thought I'd keep the door open on the first of January so I went for a run up to the whale watching platform and back at 9.30pm at night.

"I had a broken hand in a big mitten at the time and thought I'd just do it and see what happened. A week in, I got a better cast and before long I thought I'd keep doing it and it slowly became a fear of losing my streak.

"After a month, I had a bit of body fatigue but thought it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, so I made it into a charity event.

"Brain cancer is quite close to my heart with my mum passing away in 2013 and thought rather than flog my legs out just to see if I could do it, I'd put it towards a good cause.

"My journey half began again after that because there was a bit more drive and motivation involved with that emotional attachment."

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But he said his efforts were not without struggle, falling ill and having a few mishaps along the way.

"I got sinusitis for a few months," he said.

"I got through that, then broke a rib trying to be the cool dad in the playground doing parkour for the kids which didn't work out. I adapted my running action to do the least amount of up and down jolting for my rib.

"Then on July 29 I went to a worksite after poor sleep and missed a day because I ended up in Colac hospital with low blood pressure.

"The doctor said I wouldn't be out in time because they were trying to get me in for surgery. I felt my streak slipping away from me, so I was thinking about how I'd get out of my wheelchair and run a few laps up and down the hallway because I couldn't stand up at the time.

"Eventually I came to terms that I'd miss it. The next day my partner picked me up from Colac and told me she'd support me if I got back to it. I got one of my friends to chaperone me in case I had something go wrong, he had some first aid training to help me out.

"Then I thought to myself, if I could do a weeks worth in one day then I could make up for it. I added it all up and found it perfectly made a marathon, then it gained traction with my partner who did a fair bit of work in the background."

He said he never could have completed the challenge without the help of his partner who also rode along with him for the marathon.

"She rode the whole way next to me with food and water and ice packs," he said.

"She performed first aid on me at the 34 and 40 kilometre marks to get me here and I definitely would not have made it without her."

In total, Mr Flett managed to raise more than $2000 for charity with his year-long efforts.

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