Impaled boy's dad smashes fundraising goal for Ronald McDonald House

Shayne Johnson and son Keegan after Shayne finished his final run on Saturday. Photo / Alison Smith

Shayne Johnson finished his 71.5km running effort last week and smashed his fundraising goal - raising more than $11,000 in the process.

The Tairua man ran four miles - 6.5km - every four hours for 48 hours, running through the night and day at 2pm, 6pm, 10pm, 2am, 6am, 10am for two days.

The total was 71.5km.

Shayne ran to raise money for Ronald McDonald House, after experiencing how important the facility is for parents whose children are in Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland.

In 2018 his son Keegan, then aged 4, had been playing on a swing while holding the stick at his daycare centre when he swung forward and impaled himself. The 1m long piece of bamboo entered his groin and lodged itself deep into his body.

He said the biggest part of the challenge was getting out of the house in the night to run at 2am.

"I had about an hour 20 minutes' sleep between runs in the night runs, but the 2am and 6am on the last day took me to some dark places," he said.

"I thought about Keegan heaps, how I felt when he got hurt."

He said he "probably would" do it again to raise money.

Shayne ran fast on his runs, reaching a speed of 31 minutes on one run of four miles, 6.5km.

At times he was joined by fitness training friends who ran or cycled individual runs with him and he said this helped with his state of mind.

Keegan ran with his dad on the final run on Saturday.

Physically the former rugby player held up well, but has some swelling on his knee. He spent time on the bike at his gym Paradise Gymn in Tairua prior to each run.

- Donations are still being accepted at fundraise.rmhc.org.nz/shaynejohnson/house-to-house