Andy Mackinnon was the picture of health and vitality. At 49, the keen motocross rider had just completed the gruelling Finke Desert Race with his family cheering him on. But on the long drive home, it became clear something wasn’t right. A visit to the doctor brought devastating news: stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Shocked and devastated Andy at first refused to accept the diagnosis, but just six weeks later, he passed away. He was just shy of his 50th birthday.
Andy’s family had a 70-year Easter tradition of camping at Tidal River in Wilson’s Promontory, creating fun memories and traditions. In the 1980s, a light-hearted competition called Man of the Prom began — a 1.9km run paired with quirky challenges. Over time, it grew into a team event that welcomed both men and women. In 2010, Andy’s daughter Alice, then 20, revived the fun run, with her dad and around 100 others taking part.
Flooding halted the event in 2011, and heartbreak followed when Andy died on 31 July that year. But in 2012, the run returned, renamed the Andy Mack Fun Run — now with a new purpose: raising funds for charity.
What began as a family tradition became something bigger — a way for community to come together, to laugh, to run, to remember Andy, and to raise money to change future outcomes.
In 2025, Alice set up an Andy Mack tribute page in Dare to Hope’s Virtual Bay of Hope, helping the family reach their most successful fundraising year ever. “The page on the website just made collecting donations so easy,” Alice said. “People could make a direct contribution, and even those who weren’t there that year but remembered Dad were able to donate from their couch.”
The Andy Mack Fun Run continues to honour Andy’s spirit — bringing people together in joy and remembrance, while funding vital research that will one day change the story of pancreatic cancer.
