BENDIGO East's Brad Marron is preparing to bowl for 24 hours straight next week to raise bushfire relief funds.
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Marron will begin his bowl-a-thon at 5pm on Tuesday and play through until 5pm on Wednesday at Bendigo East, with all money raised to go to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Fund.
"My biggest reason behind wanting to do this is that while we are here in Bendigo basically being able to live a normal life there are people affected by the fires who don't have clothes, don't have food to give their kids, have lost their houses, they can't go to a shop because their town has been wiped out... you get emotional thinking about that," Marron said this week.
"Someone said to me that I was crazy to want to bowl for 24 hours straight.
"But my response to that is the CFA members don't get the choice of when they want to work. If there's a fire at 3am then they go to it, so that's why I'm really passionate about doing the 24 hours."
As well as Marron's 24 hour bowl-a-thon, he is also raising money through raffles and auction items, including signed international shirts by Gary Kelly (Ireland), Commonwealth Games gold medallist Karen Murphy, Aaron Teys and Corey Wedlock.
To bid on the shirts go to the "Online Auctions for Brads Bushfire Appeal" Facebook page.
The bowl-a-thon will also include jumping castles, DJ playing music, snake display, BBQ, coffee van, SupaYou Live Streaming and more.
"I don't sleep a lot, so that shouldn't be an issue, but probably the biggest challenge is going to be the fatigue that will come in the days after," Marron said.
"We (East) play a Friday night game against South Bendigo a couple of days after, so my legs will probably be still feeling the pinch a bit then."
Marron will bowl against an opponent in hour blocks throughout the bowl-a-thon.
However, fellow Bendigo East player Steve O'Connor will bowl alongside Marron for six hours during the graveyard shift from midnight to 6am.
Marron estimates that over the 24 hours he could send down as many as 1500 bowls.
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Meanwhile, the Bendigo Bowls Division weekend pennant season resumes from its mid-season break on Saturday.
Round nine games:
South Bendigo v Castlemaine
Eaglehawk v Inglewood
Bendigo v Kangaroo Flat
Bendigo East v Golden Square
Games start 1.30pm.
Ladder:
Skipper's ladder:
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