Steep hills, back roads riddled with potholes, sideways rain and biting wind. None of it has stopped Sam Longmore as she nears the end of a 441km fundraising challenge from Corowa to Yass.

Ms Longmore set off in her everyday wheelchair, not a purpose-built racing chair, on June 27 and will roll into Yass on Saturday, after eight long days made easier because she's been backed by a loyal support crew and by the communities she's rolled through along the way.

Ms Longmore has spent the past 12 years navigating life with a spinal cord injury, the result of a fatigue-related car accident that left her paralysed down her right side. In that time she's built a spray contracting business, spent a decade working with wool, run workshops, given keynotes and represented Australia in water skiing.

The idea for the challenge, which she's calling The Big Wheel, came to her over a cup of tea at her kitchen table last November. "If Nedd Brockman can run 4,000 kilometres across Australia, surely I can wheel 400," she wrote, before the plan took shape.

From Corowa she's rolled through Howlong, Albury, Gerogery, Culcairn, Henty, Yerong Creek, The Rock, Uranquinty, Wagga Wagga, Junee, Illabo, Bethungra, Cootamundra, Wallendbeen, Harden and Binalong, averaging just over 50 kilometres a day on her way into Yass.

Tested by the weather, backed by the community

The trip hasn't been short of setbacks. Elders agent Michael Coggan, who has been part of Ms Longmore's support crew, said the weather turned brutal through the middle stretch of the journey. Ms Longmore copped heavy rain between Wagga and Junee before it hammered down again around Cootamundra, with wintery conditions following her toward Harden and Yass.

Despite the conditions, Mr Coggan said Ms Longmore hasn't slowed down. "She's tough, as tough as you've ever seen anyone," he said.

Ms Longmore said the arrival into Junee, after a hard, wet slog and a steep climb, had been one of the highlights of the trip so far. "My heart is so full," she said. "Friends, family, strangers, on arrival into Junee, it was amazing after a really, really big push up a steep hill."

Support has come from right across the agricultural sector, with agents and industry contacts helping spread the word and get people onto the donation page. "There's plenty of agents getting on board supporting," Mr Coggan said. "It's for rural mental health. That's the focus of the fundraising."

More than kilometres

For Ms Longmore, the physical challenge is only part of the story. In a video posted ahead of the trip, she said she'd learned over the years that people don't have to be visibly broken to be struggling. "You can be doing everything right and still feel totally off, empty, and a little broken," she said. "Sometimes you're just tired and overwhelmed, and maybe you've been a little too strong for a little too long."

That's the gap she's trying to close for rural communities, where she says people are often quietly carrying more than they let on. "This isn't about me," she said. "This is about the people who are struggling quietly, the ones who can't and don't speak up."

Closing in on $200,000

Ms Longmore is raising money for two organisations working directly with rural communities: Rural Aid, her national partner, which supports farmers through drought, disaster and tough seasons, and Riverina Bluebell, which works on mental health connection and conversation at a local level.

As of Friday afternoon, donations were tracking at close to $5,000 an hour, with the total closing in on her $200,000 goal. "If we can keep that happening, she'll get to $200,000," Mr Coggan said.

With Ms Longmore due to wheel into Yass tomorrow (Saturday), there's still time for the AuctionsPlus community to get behind her and help push the total across the line. Every donation, big or small, brings her closer to the goal.

DONATE HERE

---