Lithgow locals Curtis and Ben Young put their bodies on the line by taking on the 5-5-75 challenge last week.

The 5-5-75 challenge included running five miles (eight kilometres) every five hours for 75 hours all to raise funds for a charity called 'LIVIN' who raise awareness around mental health and breaking down the stigma surrounding it.

So far they have raised a whopping $12,100.

"Happy isn't even a word to describe how I feel about this, the goal was only $2000 which I thought we were going to be working for," Curtis Young said.

"I mentioned that I wanted to get to $5000 and once again I thought that was very, very steep so to see it surpass $10,000 and climbing is just incredible.

"I'm still so, so, so overwhelmed."

PREVIOUSLY: Lithgow boys to run eight kilometres every five hours for 75 hours in mental health challenge

According to Curtis the run went "amazing".

"There wasn't really a blueprint to follow besides Luke Jackson and his blue print is, hard work," he said.

"The run was really enjoyable at times but, we found a groove and a pace from the get go and barely strayed from it till the end."

They ran in all conditions, including rain and very strong winds.

"The rain was actually quite nice," Curtis laughed.

"Friday night it poured, it came around to our 8pm run and it was just hammering down, I literally thought not a soul will turn up for this.

"Sure enough, 15 men showed up and we all had a great time, lots of good chatter and laughs, we barely noticed the rain."

Curtis said if anything knocked them around it was the wind.

"That was the worst," he said.

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Luckily for the boys the community got behind them and not once did they do the run alone.

"We always had at least two people, but as it dived into the weekend more and more joined, I was so proud," he said.

Running every five hours meant waking up for the earlier morning runs, something especially hard when fatigue wants to set in.

"It was probably the early Saturday morning where we hit a bit of a wall, I didn't mind the early runs at around 12, 1 and 2am whereas Ben did, but I hated the later morning runs at like 5,6 and 7am whereas Ben really thrived in them hours," he said.

"We truly bounced off each other for that and pushed each other."

Despite feeling accomplished for finishing the challenging run, Curtis said he felt more accomplished for being able to bring so many people together.

"So many people came out of their comfort zones, pushed boundaries they never thought they'd push, that is what made us feel like we'd done a good job," he said.

There were many positives that came out of the run, Curtis said.

"The community coming together, people doing personal bests, I heard so many people say 'that was the first time I've run eight kilometres, or 'I honestly didn't think I could finish that', that was the biggest positive.

"I'm just so impressed by the town and people that linked together to help push us."

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One of their main goals was to spread a message about mental health and breaking down the stigma that it is weak to speak.

"I feel my social media presence and others really got the point out there, people saw us running and got interested and they looked into what we were doing and then their own discussion started," Curtis said.

"I had many chats with men and women that jumped into this run and they started to talk, it's amazing what people will open up about once they are aware how safe they truly are," he said.

Curtis said there were so many people he needed to thank for helping them get to this point.

"This list could go on forever, honestly anyone that has donated, you're incredible," he said.

"Right now we are in such a tough economic situation and for you to dig in and donate five bucks or 300 it's a true reflection of character and what means most to you, I can't respect that enough.

"I want thank the local businesses that got behind us and donated, these include Beauty By Bre, The Fast Fox, JG Lock safe & Security, The Tin Shed, The Gaudry, Neveah Beauty, Kava Candles, 52 on Mort Apartments, JR Mining, Eves Lithgow, and most importantly Vanguard Fitness.

"Phil left the gym open for Ben and I to use before and after and looked after us the whole weekend."

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