Community
12 June, 2025
James Coghlan preparing for an epic finish
A big crowd is expected to gather in Mount Isa to cheer him across the finish line.
After nine consecutive days of running from 4am to 4pm, James Coghlan will receive a hero’s reception when he arrives back in Mount Isa tomorrow afternoon.
The local councillor, who has embarked on running between seven North West mines in the space of nine days to support the Mount Isa Cancer Care Unit, will finish at 4pm at Kruttschnitt Oval on Friday.
One of his oldest friends, fellow Mount Isa resident Mel Wishart, said the journey to date had been an emotional one for James, who is running in honour of his late wife Fiona, who died last year.
“I’ve never organised anything like this before, so we’ve constantly had to adapt,” Ms Wishart said.
“That’s worked in our favour because I think everyone has been so compromising and supportive.
“Everyone will just do whatever you ask them to, basically.”
James originally set a task of running the full distance between each of the mines across the nine days, but had to reign in his task to 12 hours of running each day due to the toll it was taking on his physical and mental health.
Going further would have meant less sleep and less recovery time, Ms Wishart said.
“He is still in fairly good spirits. I thought he’d really struggle mentally, and look, he probably is, but he is sticking to his routine each day. When he’s done for the day he does his stretches and everyone is chatting to him,” she said.
“Then he’ll go and hop in the ice bath before getting into a hot shower and then back into the ice.
“He’ll do that for about half an hour and that gives him time to himself in the evening.
“Then he comes back out into the living area and he hops on this machine that helps with the circulation in his feet, and he puts on his compression boots and has dinner.”
“Between 7.30 and 8 o’clock we have a chat about the next day to make sure we are on the same page and then he goes to bed.”
The alarm wakes James and his team up at 3am so he can stretch, tape up blisters and hotspots, and head back out to his next starting point. Across the nine days, James will have visited mines at Dugald River, Ernest Henry, Eloise Copper, Cannington, Osborn, Phosphate Hill and Duchess.
His last mine will be Mount Isa Mines tomorrow.
Sister and fellow councillor Kim Coghlan said there would be a warm welcome waiting for James at Kruttschnitt.
“I’ll open up the kiosk and there will be a bit of a sausage sizzle for those who are there waiting for him to arrive,” she said.
“James has asked if people could wear yellow if possible.”
There is expected to be a cheque presentation at the touch grounds after James’ arrival and those wanting to cheer him on should arrive just before 4pm as he comes down Church Street into Mount Isa’s historic sporting venue.