Donovan Neill, or Dono to friends and family, is running the Auckland half marathon in support of Crohn’s and Colitis New Zealand Charitable Trust.

Donovan is 32 and has been working in the sail-making industry since he left school. He plays hockey all year round and has also been driving a race car in the 2KCUP.

“We went into Level 4 lockdown 3 days before I was supposed to play in our local hockey final. We all hoped that it would be a short lockdown and the match would only be postponed. To try and stay fit I decided to start running most days like I had done in the previous lockdown. After a few weeks of improving my running distances, a friend suggested running the Auckland half marathon. After a couple of days thinking about it, I got home from a run feeling good and signed up”.

Donovan was fit enough to play a hockey game but was only running occasionally. Training and games made up most of his fitness programme. Extra runs were once a week at best and only about 4kms.

Before deciding to run the half marathon distance, Donovan started running 4kms, 5-6 days a week. “I added a couple of kms to the runs as I felt able. Over a few weeks I built up to 8-14kms. I started a formal training plan 7 weeks out from the event. Three 8-11km training runs a week with a fast 5km run between them. I then had a long slow run on a Sunday. The distances gradually built up from 35-55km per week before tapering off in the 2 weeks before the race.”

So why is Donovan doing all of this? Donovan’s sister Elliot was diagnosed with Crohn's three years ago.

“It was not a condition I knew anything about and, to be honest, I didn't really understand it. The first thing that really made an impact on me was CCNZ’s march to Parliament, part of the #wecantwait campaign, to ask for funding of more medications. I had no idea that the current medications aren't working for a lot of people or that there were options that people couldn't access.”

Donovan plans to run the half marathon in a purple shirt. “Purple is the colour of the ribbon for IBD and it's also the colour of Camp Purple Live, which Elliot really enjoyed. It's also a bright colour that will stand out on race day”, says Donovan.

Donovan has run over 300kms since the start of Level 4 in mid-August and will be at about 400kms by the time he finishes the run on the 31st of October 2021.

Update: Donovan competed in the Auckland half marathon on the 21st of October. He completed the half in 2 hours and 4 minutes. He raised a total of $3150 for CCNZ via his give-a-little page!