Less than a week after he left Parliament House, children's entertainer and YouTuber Scott "Ozzie" Richmond has achieved his goal of dribbling a soccer ball from Canberra to Sydney - also inspiring kids along the way to lead a healthy and active life.
The 41-year-old dad jogged into Sydney at 10am on Thursday, setting a new world record for the feat, ultimately dribbling the ball 320 kilometres.
"I think it's definitely starting to hit me now. The body's definitely starting to feel the tightness and the soreness after a week of running," he said on Friday morning.
The dad-of-three was greeted later Thursday afternoon by hundreds of fans - kids, families and supporters - in a park in his home territory, the Sutherland Shire, where there were hopes of breaking another world record, this time for the most people simultaneously dribbling a soccer ball.
"I think we've fallen short but the event got bigger than the world record, it was about bringing the community together and bringing those messages of positivity to the kids to lead a healthy and active life and encouraging them to chase their dreams," Ozzie said.
"It was a fun afternoon. I got a lot of positive feedback and that was the main thing."
Richmond wanted to arrive in Sydney on Thursday to coincide with the first of the FIFA Women's World Cup games.
He and his producer Dylan Bray also aimed to $100,000 for Fair Game and Sport Access Foundation to give disadvantaged children a chance to participate in sport. Donations can still be made here.
Ozzie said he only used one pair of shoes but went through five balls over the 320km odyssey, which mainly followed back roads between Canberra and Sydney.
"Meeting all the people along the way was amazing," he said.
"It was really heart-warming just to see the generosity of people out there. I had strangers walking up to me and giving me donations and high-fives and cheers of support and toots of the horn as they drove past.
"The highlight was coming into Seymour Shaw Park [in Sydney] and seeing the hundreds and hundreds of kids - just how excited they were to see me come home.
"I was signing autographs, giving high fives, taking photographs. It was beyond my wildest expectations, to be honest."
A physiotherapist and masseuse were part of his support crew, which critically also included his wife Kate and their children Channing, 10; Fraser, 7; and Blayke, five.
"They've been unbelievable throughout the journey. They shared kilometres with me on one of the quieter days and then just gave me hugs and kisses throughout the week and told me, 'Dad we're so proud'," he said.
"My middle son said, 'Dad, one day I want to break a record, I want to dribble a basketball from Canberra to Sydney'. So, the positivity and the drive to achieve things is rubbing off on them, so that's great."
The journey, which started from Canberra on July 14, was not all plain sailing.
"There were some dangerous moments, to be honest," he said.
"Day two we spent 41-and-a-half kilometres on the main highway, a dual carriageway, and it just got a little too hairy, we had some close calls.
"We're travelling at 10kmh and we had cars screaming up behind us. There were people obviously in a hurry and not happy that you were adding a few minutes to their day.
"So we just said, 'It's not worth it' and that's the reason we ended up taking the back roads and the country roads and got well and truly off the highways and made sure everyone around us was safe."
Now looking to enjoy some downtime with his family, Ozzie was just happy to fire up kids with his achievement.
"Hopefully I've inspired kids to go out and chase their dreams and take on big goals," he said.
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