TEN years ago, Thornlands endurance athlete Kieron Douglass took on his first fundraising challenge for the Queensland Children’s Hospital in-house program Juiced TV.
Each year since, he has set himself a new test.
Tomorrow (August 22), Mr Douglass will attempt to hike the eastern escarpment of Mount Cotton from gate 8 non-stop for 24 hours, starting at 10am.
By the finish, he will have climbed the equivalent of twice the height of Mount Everest.
“The track is 993 metres long and the elevation of each climb is 135 metres,” he said.
“The past six months haven’t been easy.
“I’ve been recovering from an ankle injury that’s kept me off trails and out of races.
“For me, running isn’t about the kilometres – it’s about how I process, how I heal, how I connect, and how I give back.”
For Mr Douglass, movement is still a gift, even when it looks different.
“I’m happy to do any challenge to support the challenges these kids at the hospital have to go through,” he said.
“What I’m doing is nothing compared to what these kids face every day. I don’t know how else to help.”
Juiced TV is celebrating its 10th year in 2025, and Mr Douglass said he wanted to honour where it began and what it has meant to him.
Since adopting the program as his cause, he has formed friendships with some of the children, including Maxwell
Shearer, who will act as his support runner.
His crew will also include Samuel Simmons of Wellington Point.
Mr Douglass first learned about Juiced TV in 2014 through a shared Facebook post seeking seed funding.
“I went to bed that night and couldn’t sleep. I woke my wife in the early hours and said, ‘I know what I’m going to do – I’m going to run to raise money,’” he said.
The following year he walked from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast via backroads – a 200km trek that raised $15,000.
His subsequent challenges have included walking the University of Queensland running track non-stop for 24 hours (240km) and completing the Gold Coast Marathon backwards in 2023.
Mr Douglass estimates his efforts have raised about $80,000 for the program.
“The program does some really cool stuff – it takes the children away from
the heartache and the struggling. I would endure anything to help those kids,” he said.
Mr Douglass hopes his example will also inspire his own three children.
“Seeing these kids is a real eye-opener for them – to see how good they’ve got it compared to some other kids,” he said.
“I’m not sure what I will do next year – I’ll think about it on this year’s run. Who knows?”
