Gungahlin Bulls players Steve Boardman and Kai Sklenar have never run 42 kilometres before, but when the going gets tough in next month's New York marathon they'll be spurred on by sick kids who have it much tougher.
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The pair will compete in the marathon on November 2 to raise money for Camp Quality and already have racked up almost $10,000 in donations, mainly through local businesses.
Boardman, 29, decided to become a volunteer for the children's cancer charity after realising he "wasn't contributing all that much to society" boozing in Civic nightspots on Saturdays.
When the lactic acid starts to build up in the Big Apple, the kids they're representing will be all the motivation they need to fight through it.
"It [joining up] was about putting things into perspective. When there's a six-year-old kid who's got leukaemia it makes your problems seem insignificant," Boardman said.
"I'm waking up to do a marathon. A kid's waking up to do chemo. It's a bit different.
"I got involved with Camp Quality in 2011. It costs them about $880 for every kid to go.
"I started raising money by doing things like City to Surf and Canberra Fun Run and it went from there."
Sklenar's preparations suffered a major setback when he ruptured his Achilles tendon playing for the Bulls and he has only been back running for a week.
Boardman is confident both will see out the journey.
"I've got no doubt in my mind we'll both finish. We're aiming for a four-hour time," Boardman said.
"There's a big unknown when we hit the high thirties (kilometres) because mentally we've never been there before. We'll have to wait and see.
"To tell you the truth, I thought I was wasting too much time going out to Civic every Saturday and not contributing all that much to society.
"I noticed what they [Camp Quality] do and how they make a difference for the families. I'm a volunteer as well as a fundraiser.
"We're going for a decent time because we're representing ourselves, the family and a lot of the Canberra community. There's motivation there to keep pushing."
Boardman, a fullback, hasn't played much first grade this year as long-distance running and rugby league don't really mix.
"My head was probably in New York already," he said.
"Going week to week trying not to get injured isn't the best mindset for a footy player.
"By chance I was in New York last year when the race was on. I watched the last 300 yards and was blown away by how emotional it was, the support there and the looks on the runners' faces when they crossed the line.
"I said I'd come back and do it one day. Here we are."
* You can donate money to Boardman and Sklenar's cause into the following Commonwealth Bank account: BSB: 06 2692 Acct: 1788 6377
