Lily Peacock started her run long before the sun rose over the small town of Clermont in Central Queensland.
Each step of the 50-kilometre event got harder and harder, but this 11-year-old was on a mission.
"I did want to stop," Lily said, "[But] my goal was to get it done in about 10 hours, and I did."
When Lily's granddad Tony Wilkinson was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year, it shook the family.
What can an 11-year-old do, in a situation even adults feel helpless in?
It was a question Lily struggled with for months.
Driven to inspire the men in her town to get screened for bowel cancer and raise money for research, she hatched a plan.
"Sport is my thing, so I thought I might just do some walking or running to help out and people can come join in if they want to."
Within a week, Lily and her mum Sophie Peacock organised a running fundraiser in the hopes of spreading awareness through their town and donating money to cancer research.
Lily ran more than 30 kilometres and walked the rest of the route, which was ten laps around the local Park Run track.
The family described the event earlier this month as a huge success, with about 40 people joining and local businesses helping to raise more than $12,000.
Cancer no barrier to joining Lily
Lily's beloved 'Grandy', Tony Wilkinson was diagnosed with stage three advanced colon cancer.
He has been through more than eight rounds of chemo, a major operation and was undergoing immunotherapy in Mackay every few weeks.
But that didn't stop him from joining his granddaughter.
"[Lily has] been thinking for a long time, about how she could help in some way as an 11 year old," Mr Wilkinson said.
"It's more overwhelming than anything."
Walking the 50 kilometres was a symbolic event for Mr Wilkinson.
"I coached rugby league all my life, I always encouraged people to keep moving forward," he said.
"When you train and play, things happen, but you've got to keep moving forwards.
"I achieved something that I probably wouldn't have done 20 years ago – to be able to walk 50 kilometres.
"It's a great motivator for me to say to myself, nothing is unbeatable and everything's achievable if you put your mind to it."
A special town
The family said a number of other local cancer survivors joined the walk or supported the event.
"One of our supporters that walked the 50km, she lost her dad last year," Mum, Sophie Peacock said.
"She donated a sapphire from his collection and we auctioned that off.
"So with that and the raffle money we're sitting at over $12,000."
"Half goes to Bowel Cancer Australia and the other half to Cancer Council and we all went down to the pub after, encouraged people to get checks."
Tony Wilkinson said what started as an idea from an 11-year-old turned into a great drive for awareness through the whole community.
"It's made people reflect for a while, how special this town is."
