{"id":105260,"date":"2025-06-24T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/?p=105260"},"modified":"2025-06-18T22:22:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T12:22:42","slug":"support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WITH ankles the size of tennis balls, Dan Donaldson absorbed pain with each downhill step he took to conquer a gruelling 231km ultra-marathon in May.<\/p>\n<p>The Barwon Heads Cricket Club captain-coach and Torquay Coast Primary School Grade 3 teacher has enjoyed reflecting on the hardest event of his life.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, Donaldson completed the Sonder Monster, which is the largest course in the West Macs Monster trail running festival.<\/p>\n<p>He took in the sights of the spectacular Larapinta Trail in the West MacDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You&#8217;re climbing up boulders, you&#8217;re going through water, you&#8217;re going across riverbeds, you&#8217;re up and down,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s probably 10 pretty brutal peaks, which you can only really find in Alice Springs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/IMG_3072_74234.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"380\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dan Donaldson enjoying his West Macs Monster trail run.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Donaldson completed the 65km course in 2022, which was his first ultra-marathon, and thought he&#8217;d never take on the West Macs challenge again.<\/p>\n<p>But after pacing another competitor for the Sonder Monster in 2024, he found inspiration.<\/p>\n<p>To prepare, Donaldson did the course in two parts last year.<\/p>\n<p>The hard work paid off as he beat the 60-hour cut off time, which was a huge feat as 10 people retired.<\/p>\n<p>He was eighth overall in a time of 56 hours, 48 minutes and 44 seconds, at a pace of 14.45\/km.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/OeclipseWMMR2025i4-5_74274.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dan Donaldson after finishing the mammoth trail run.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He said he was immensely proud to have finished.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To cross that line was just relief, particularly [considering] the state I was in at about the 100km mark; I was struggling to walk.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I pretty much pulled the pin. I was in tears; I was in a bad way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He rolled his left ankle at the 45km and 95km marks and it &#8211; along with his right ankle &#8211; blew up to the size of a tennis ball.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing how a bit of morale and some support from some friends can bring you back,&#8221; Donaldson said of how he remained in the race.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/OeclipseWMMR2025i4-5_74218.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"482\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dan Donaldson is interviewed after completing the Sonder Monster.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He said an accidental 2m fall into the icy Hugh Gorge at about 130km &#8220;reset&#8221; him and &#8220;was a massive turning point&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Another strategy he had was targeting the next aid station rather than thinking about the end goal.<\/p>\n<p>While he could barely walk after he&#8217;d crossed the finish line, Donaldson said he had enjoyed a pretty good physical recovery.<\/p>\n<p>He said the mental fatigue had probably taken more of a toll, after going two days without sleep during the event.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was about seven sleeps afterwards, that I was waking up, drenched in sweat midway through the night.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/OeclipseWMMR2025i4-5_74287.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"345\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dan Donaldson finishing the 231km Sonder Monster in Alice Springs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My body was definitely in a state of shock but that&#8217;s, touch wood, hopefully all behind me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said his school and students offered great support while tracking his progress online.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I did have people at aid stations and my crew reading out messages from my class, my colleagues and family and friends &#8211; I think that was a lot of the motivation [to finish] as well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Donaldson gave a shoutout to his crew which included his brother and a friend pacing him as well his parents and friends supporting him along the way.<\/p>\n<p>He also thanked the event organisers and volunteers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WITH ankles the size of tennis balls, Dan Donaldson absorbed pain with each downhill step he took to conquer a gruelling 231km ultra-marathon in May. The Barwon Heads Cricket Club captain-coach and Torquay Coast Primary School Grade 3 teacher has enjoyed reflecting on the hardest event of his life. For the first time, Donaldson completed [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":105379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-105260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish - Bellarine Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dan Donaldson conquers the 231km Sonder Monster ultramarathon with grit, support, and mental strength in a stunning Alice Springs setting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish - Bellarine Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dan Donaldson conquers the 231km Sonder Monster ultramarathon with grit, support, and mental strength in a stunning Alice Springs setting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bellarine Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-23T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/BA1d.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brian Allen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f3004d507facda679092acfadb609d7\"},\"headline\":\"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-23T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":594,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/BA1d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/\",\"name\":\"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish - Bellarine Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/BA1d.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-23T18:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Dan Donaldson conquers the 231km Sonder Monster ultramarathon with grit, support, and mental strength in a stunning Alice Springs setting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/BA1d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/BA1d.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Dan Donaldson during his 231km Sonder Monster trail run. Photos: OLIVER ECLIPSE PHOTOGRAPHY\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/news\\\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bellarine Times\",\"description\":\"Free local news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Bellarine Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"width\":291,\"height\":38,\"caption\":\"Bellarine Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0f3004d507facda679092acfadb609d7\",\"name\":\"Brian Allen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brian Allen\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bellarinetimes\\\/author\\\/brian\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish - Bellarine Times","description":"Dan Donaldson conquers the 231km Sonder Monster ultramarathon with grit, support, and mental strength in a stunning Alice Springs setting.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish - Bellarine Times","og_description":"Dan Donaldson conquers the 231km Sonder Monster ultramarathon with grit, support, and mental strength in a stunning Alice Springs setting.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/","og_site_name":"Bellarine Times","article_published_time":"2025-06-23T18:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/BA1d.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Brian Allen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brian Allen","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/"},"author":{"name":"Brian Allen","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#\/schema\/person\/0f3004d507facda679092acfadb609d7"},"headline":"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish","datePublished":"2025-06-23T18:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/"},"wordCount":594,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/BA1d.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/","name":"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish - Bellarine Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/BA1d.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-23T18:00:00+00:00","description":"Dan Donaldson conquers the 231km Sonder Monster ultramarathon with grit, support, and mental strength in a stunning Alice Springs setting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/BA1d.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/BA1d.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Dan Donaldson during his 231km Sonder Monster trail run. Photos: OLIVER ECLIPSE PHOTOGRAPHY"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/news\/support-mental-grit-drives-donaldson-to-ultramarathon-finish\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Support, mental grit drives Donaldson to ultramarathon finish"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/","name":"Bellarine Times","description":"Free local news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#organization","name":"Bellarine Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","width":291,"height":38,"caption":"Bellarine Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/#\/schema\/person\/0f3004d507facda679092acfadb609d7","name":"Brian Allen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d213235d47bdbf4fb9515030ac9adabda02bbdc17d039fdfb3f240457212a3ec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brian Allen"},"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/author\/brian\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105260"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bellarinetimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=105260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}