For the second year in a row, Shaw Festival actor Kevin “Koovy” McLachlan completed a self-organized run for charity.

McLachlan spent just more than 35 hours running 100 miles – 160 kilometres – this past weekend to raise $5,000 in support of the Actors Fund of Canada, a charity that supports Canada’s entertainment industry.

The route took McLachlan on a trail in and around the Dundas Valley Conservation Area, which he said he modelled after another local run by Happy Trails Racing called the “Foxtail 100.”

Through sun, rain and pitch darkness, McLachlan said he was challenged mentally, physically and emotionally.

“I wanted to see how far I could push myself and I wanted to find the edge, basically find that place where you just go, 'I can’t do any more,' and then you just keep going,” he said.

Some people might wonder why this 25 year-old would push himself to his limits to run for more than 35 hours and 100 miles when no one was making him do it.

“I got to prepare, I got to practice and I got to try to put things in place to be ready for it but not everyone has that luxury,” McLachlan said.

This is a reality of many of the Canadian entertainers who seek the support of the Actors Fund when in need, he said.

McLachlan recalls a moment around 70 kilometres into the run where he was reminded of the real reason he pushed himself to complete this challenge.

“One of my friends who ran with me, Eliza Jane Scott, was there as the night fell around 9 p.m. to midnight,” McLachlan said.

Running alongside him, she talked about how her son had been born with complications, and both mother and baby ended up in hospital.

“She talked about all these unexpected costs and things had arisen and she said how the (Actors Fund) paid for her rent that month,” he recalled.

'And I just remember tears coming in my eyes that moment and being like, 'Oh yeah, there was a bigger why,' to have me doing this as a fundraiser to help support people and being reminded of those of those moments and those things was such a was such a motivating thing to keep me moving.”

As of Tuesday, Sept. 7, McLachlan was well on his way to his goal and had raised $3,550. Anyone interested in supporting the run can visit his fundraising page at https://afchelps.ca/koovyruns100miles/.