Nardia Guillaumier is no stranger to pain, nor is her indoor rowing coach Alan Swan who is often the one pushing her to ignore her burning muscles.

The pair endured the exhaustion together on Saturday with Nardia, a dual World indoor rowing gold medallist, and Alan, a Jamberoo gym owner and Kiama SLSC surf boat rower, covering hundreds of kilometres in the Kiama Ultra Challenge fundraiser.

“I rowed 100km in eight hours and four minutes on an indoor rowing machine and Alan cycled 200km on an indoor bike to raise money for charities that are close to our hearts,” Nardia said.

“We are both ultra competitive and were determined to push ourselves to our absolute physical, mental and emotional limit to raise money the Breast Cancer Network, Leukaemia Foundation, the Amyloidosis Australia Network and Kiama Surf Club.

“Alan and my family, including my husband Brian, have all had loved ones or friends who have been diagnosed with cancer and we wanted to acknowledge their fight by raising money to help others in their battle.

“Last year my father (Bill Gorissen) died from Cardiac Amyloidosis. It’s a difficult disease to diagnose and it caused his heart to stop beating.

“But Alan and I gave 133,000 heartbeats whilst completing Kiama’s Ultra Challenge to make a difference and we did that with the support of the community in an epic fundraising event.”

The Kiama Ultra Challenge raised more than $60,000 with local family businesses Big 4 Easts Beach Kiama and Gregory's Scaffolding generously sponsoring the event, along with community and small business donations on the day.

They were joined by 10 teams of indoor rowers and two teams on bikes, made up of community members from local surf, still water and dragon boat crews, Kiama High School students, firefighters, staff from Burnett’s on Barney and members of the Kiama Business Network.

Among the other participants were members of the Illawarra Womens in Business Networking Group, an indoor row and ride team from Swan Athletic and row team from Oxygen Fitness (where Nardia trains at both) with one local team led by breast cancer survivor Ashley Lewis.

Kiama Mayor Cameron McDonald, state MP Katelin McInerney and Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Philips also sweated it out for the good cause.

The community teams kept the rowers and bikes moving while Alan and Nardia slogged for almost nine hours, with short rest and toilet breaks, to complete their ultra distances.

“This challenge is one of the hardest things Alan and I have ever done, and Alan has rowed the George Bass,” Nardia explained.

“The ultra challenge was tough, mentally, physically and emotionally, but it’s nothing compared to going through chemotherapy, watching a family member go through treatment, watching someone struggle because they can’t function like they used to.”

They started just after 8am on Saturday in the Kiama Surf Club Auditorium.

Cath Davies, national patient advocate of the Australian Amyloidosis Network, and her husband Peter were on hand to answer questions about Amyloidosis and were amazed by the support, teamwork and spirit.

Moira Etheridge of the Kiama’s Breast Cancer Network Australia branch was also present, as many of the competitors have beaten breast cancer or lost family members or friends to that disease.

Alan’s mother and sister, along with Marika (Nardia’s older sister) have survived breast cancer and acknowledged the BCNA to be a vital resource when requiring treatment and support.

The Leukaemia Foundation assisted a close friend of the Guillaumiers, Mondo Davies. He had Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) since 2015 which had been in remission with medication for many years but ultimately it was an unrelated form of leukaemia called MDS, or Myelodysplastic Syndrome that resulted in Mondo’s passing this February after a two-month battle.

The Foundation provided information pamphlets to assist community members with access to its amazing resources.

Kiama Surf Club members not only were part of the indoor rowing teams but they answered many questions people had about their activities.

“The amount of community support has been extremely humbling, I am so proud of the amount of people that have supported this event, in turn, the four charities,” Alan said.

Nardia was battling a cold on the day of the Challenge, but did not stop her from completing her target. Her breathing was compromised at times as her mental strength was challenged to its limit.

Alan found cramping of muscles was his biggest threat of excessive pain, making sure he had the pickle juice close at hand.

“It wasn’t a race,” explains Alan. “The event was about teamwork and support, which is exactly what you need if you are battling cancer or amyloidosis.

“The energy that we got from all the community behind us was incredible.

"I believe that energy alone gave Nardia and I the encouragement and drive we needed to push all the way to the finish.”

Nardia added: “I am still digesting the actual magnitude of the day, as I was in a meditative state for around 45km to keep myself calm and focused to help my breathing.

“So many people have come up to me in the street, messaged or shared stories on social media to mention the success of Kiama’s Ultra Challenge and to congratulate Alan and I making our distances.

“But it actually was the community and the four charities that were the big success stories - I have never seen anything so amazing for all the right reasons. My heart was full.”