Register for the 48km Gym Cup!
We’re excited to introduce the 48km Gym Cup, now open to anyone associated with a gym—including members, managers, employees, and personal trainers.
The Kokoda Challenge offers a unique opportunity to strengthen bonds with your gym mates, colleagues, or employees. Form multiple teams within your gym and compete against each other, all while vying for the ultimate title of Kokoda Challenge Gym Cup Champion against other gyms in your city.
Gather a team of 3 or 4 and take on the challenging 48km course in Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, or Sydney. As you push through the course, you and your teammates will embody and experience the four core values of the Kokoda Veterans:
COURAGE
ENDURANCE
MATESHIP
SACRIFICE
These values are at the heart of the Kokoda Challenge and will foster deep connections and team-building within your gym. The experience will create bonds and memories like no other.
GYM REGISTRATIONS OPEN NOW
THERE IS NO LIMIT ON THE AMOUNT OF TEAMS A GYM CAN ENTER.
The Gym Cups!
Named after Kokoda Veterans, the Gym Cup will be awarded to the Gym team that crosses the finish line in the quickest time.
This cup along with medallions, certificates and a prize pack from MACRO MIKE will be awarded to the team. This is the ULTIMATE title and bragging rights as you compete not only against other gyms, but also against your gyms other teams!
Sunshine Coast
Lindsay Alfred Bear Gym Cup
Lindsay Alfred Bear's platoon was sent to the frontline to caulk a gap in the defences. Bear took charge after his platoons commander was killed. Bear wielded a Bren gun to kill around fifteen enemy soldiers in close combat before being wounded in his left hand and right leg. For his bravery, he was awarded the Military Medal and evacuated to Australia in September.
After recovering, he was promoted to sargeant and his battalion, the 2/14th returned to Papua. On 11 October, his platoon was tasked with taking Pallier’s Hill. Leading the attack, he fought with bayonet in hand before suffering multiple gunshot wounds. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his gallantry. Lindsay Alfred Bear passed away in 2000 survived by his wife and four children.
Brisbane
Leslie 'Bull' Allen Gym Cup
Leslie ‘Bull’ Allen rescued many wounded soldiers under heavy fire around Crystal Creek on the 7 and 8 February 1943 for which he was awarded the Military Medal: ‘Private Allen’s bearing and his untiring efforts in tending the wounded and helping with rations and stores were an inspiration’.
On 30 July 1943, at Mount Tambu, Allen safely rescued 12 United States soldiers & captured in a famous photo rescuing an unconcious soldier. He was awarded the United States Silver Star. It was during those campaigns that Allen would not only earn his nickname of ‘Bull’ but also gain a reputation as being ‘cool under fire’.
Bull was a well known character around Ballarat, Victoria. He worked at Soveriegn Hill later on in life and passed away in 1982
Gold Coast
Charlie McCullum Gym Cup
Charles Reginald McCallum fought in the Victorian 2/14th Infantry Battalion and engaged in heavy fighting with the Japanese at the Battle of Isurava on 29th August 1942. His company was forced to withdraw and, whilst wounded, Corporal Charlie McCallum singlehandedly held off the advancing enemy.
Armed with a Bren gun in one hand & a Thompson sub-machine in the other, his actions & bravery allowed his comrades to withdraw to safety with no loss. McCallum was also able to withdraw and was recommended for the Victoria Cross. He received the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Unfortunately, while he survived the Battle of Isurava, he was killed in action at Brigade Hill on 8th September 1942.
Sydney
Norm Ensor Gym Cup
Norm Ensor was 19 when he enlisted just two days after Christmas. Despite being visually impaired in his left eye, Norm received full health clearance and became a signalman in Papua New Guinea, laying telephone lines along the Kokoda Track and allowing units across the front lines to communicate. The work was incredibly dangerous, with enemy snipers shooting men sent out to repair the lines.
It was one of the lines Norm laid that Bert Kienzle used for the crucial report that Myola was a good supply dropping zone. After the war, Norm married his fiancée and managed several grocery stores in Eastern Sydney. He served as a volunteer guide with the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway in Concord, NSW. Norm Ensor passed away peacefully on October 21st 2017, aged 94.
