Scott Murphy is running an ‘ocean’ marathon for childhood brain cancer research
Scott Murphy is about to head on a world ‘bucket list’ cruise for 114 days with wife Lauren, but he won’t be chilling on a sun lounger every day with a pina colada and a good book! The Balgowlah local will walk a marathon aboard the Crown Princess on 20 May while sailing on the Indian Ocean, to raise money for RUN DIPG, for research into a deadly childhood cancer.
DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma) is an aggressive fast-growing brain tumour mostly affecting children aged five to 10 years of age.
Beaches locals Marly and Nick Tsansdis tragically lost their daughter Demi to DIPG in 2022. She was just four years old. Scott first met the family five years ago when they were waiting on Demi’s test results after she’d been experiencing a loss of balance and suddenly couldn’t ride her bike. He felt compelled to help the cause.
“Anything that happens to kids is naturally heartbreaking for people,” says Scott. “It was only eight months from diagnosis to when she lost her life. “You have to raise awareness but also to try to raise funds for (research).”
Scott, 57, was medically retired from NSW Police after 36 years of service on the Northern Beaches, country NSW and Surry Hills. He suffers with rheumatoid arthritis but it hasn’t let it stop him from raising funds for DIPG – he’s raised about $5,000 over the last few years through the Dee Why to Manly Sun Run.
To highlight his cause, he even walked the 2024 7km Sun Run course backwards – he was last over the finish line with ‘legs like jelly’ but it certainly attracted attention. He also completed the 2025 Sun Run 7km run distance on a cruise. A 42km marathon might be a bit more of a challenge for Scott but he says he’s been training by delivering Peninsula Living magazines for the past two years.
Demi died from DIPG when she was four years old
“I’m not a born runner and I’ve never done anything like this before,” he says. “And it’s something different that, as far as I know, has not been done for a fundraising purpose.
“I’ll be doing it on the sun deck on the cruise ship, so I don’t know how many laps it’s going to be. One of the first things I’ll do when we get onboard on 10 May is to do a lap so I can work it out. It’ll be roughly 12 minutes a kilometre which will work out to be about seven and a half to eight hours.”
RUN DIPG was founded by biomedical scientist Matt Dun and his GP wife Phoebe Hindley, who lost their daughter to DIPG in 2019, two months short of her second birthday. Little was known about DIPG at the time and Professor Dun, a leukaemia-focused cancer researcher and Dr Hindley created their own program for DIPG research in the Newcastle region.
Scott hopes to raise $10,000 for the cause and has earmarked 20 May for his marathon, but it will depend on the weather and the ocean conditions, so he has a few days up his sleeve as they’ll be cruising from Freemantle to Mauritius for seven days.
Scott’s arthritis will be a challenge, but he says he will push through the pain and discomfort and will complete the marathon – even if he crawls to the end.
“It’s painful,” says Scott. “I have medication and can just take it easy for a little bit and let the body (recover). I’ve retired but my wife still works as a physiotherapist so hopefully she’ll look after me.”
Visit rundipg-org.grassrootz.com/scott-murphy-s-marathon-on-the-move to donate or use the QR code above.