On October 23 on his 71st birthday Carl Hebel, ironically from the town of Hebel in Queensland, will kiss his wife goodbye and set off on a world record breaking round the world run of 20,000km. Mr Hebel passed through Glen Innes last Thursday on his way to Perisher where he runs from the bottom of the valley to the top of Mt Kosciusko for Anzac Day.
“It’s called the Highest Tribute to the Anzac,” he said.
He then runs back to Jindabyne for the 10am service. Mr Hebel has been proclaimed as Australia’s own Forrest Gump. Forest Gump never had a plan when he set off down his driveway, Hebel does, and he plans to break the world record of his greatest friend Ron Grant.
Mr Grant ran a marathon a day (42.2km) for 217 days, totalling over 8,000km. Hebel plans to more than double that. He will run a marathon a day for 500 days, which will take him well over his target 20,000km.
He will not only run on our continent but Asia and Europe as well.
The starting point for his historic run is Hebel Australia and the finishing point is the town of Hebel Germany.
“I decided to have a go at this because Ron Grant has been retired for a few years so some one has to take on the record,” Mr Hebel said.
From Hebel he will start his trek around the outskirts of Australia, then on to Vietnam, China, Korea, and Japan before finally arriving in Germany after more than two years of running. At the ripe old age of 70 Mr Hebel said he is not worried about his age and has no doubts he will complete his mission.
“I’m pretty fit, I’ve done a lot of training, I don’t feel like dying yet,” he said.
This visit was the second time Mr Hebel had been to Glen Innes. In September 1996 he was passing through on another journey.
Mr Hebel has caught the eye of the nation with his attempt at this world record breaking run. He has a number of sponsors including Kelloggs and Channel 7 will have constant coverage of the world record attempt.
Another astonishing aspect a very interesting man, is that he is the only person in Australia who has ties to the infamous Jolly Swagman from the Banjo Patterson song Waltzing Matilda.
Mr Hebel claims he is related to Sam Hofmeister whose death triggered the end to the shearers strike in 1894.
He said Hofmeister was the teamster who set fire to the Dagworth shearing shed and ran 14 miles to the Coolabah watering hole where he had left his horses. He accidentally fell into the billabong and drowned.
“He was no swagman who jumped in the billabong to avoid being arrested for stealing a sheep,” Mr Hebel said.
Mr Hebel said the correct account of the drowning is recording in the now defunct Winton Newspaper.
He claims that Banjo Patterson visited the area three months later and wrote the words to Waltzing Matilda to a German Folk Song. The famous Billy Tea Company changed the words of the song to suit their advertising jingle.
“There was no such person as the jolly swagman, but the Billy Tea People needed a jovial bushman, not a bloke who burnt down a shearing shed and then accidentally drowned, so they changed it to suit their image with a jolly swagman,” Mr Hebel said.
Banjo Patterson’s original version is inscribed on a monument in the main street of Winton.
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