If he succeeds, it is believed the 58-year-old Palmerston North ultramarathon runner will be the first to circumnavigate New Zealand running, raising $30,000 for the Mental Health Foundation at the same time.
He left his home on August 31, travelled up the west coast of the North Island to Cape Reinga then down the east coast, before crossing into the South Island and starting south on State Highway 1.
On Wednesday night, he stayed in Oamaru and left before 5am yesterday on day 49, heading to Waikouaiti. Today, he will run to Dunedin, where he will stay the night before heading south, reaching Bluff on Tuesday if all goes to plan.
From there, he heads for home running up the West Coast via the Haast Pass to arrive in Palmerston North on November 8, completing the journey in 70 days.
Although an accomplished sportsman when he was young, Mr Newburn did not start running until he was in his 40s, first running marathons and then ultramarathons.
He has also run in the past to raise funds, notably last year from Auckland to Christchurch in 15 days, a distance of 1053km, during which he raised $20,000 for the Red Cross Earthquake Relief Fund.
After that, he heard American ultramarathon runner and author Dean Karnazes was running 5000km across the United States, so he looked for something similar in New Zealand and calculated a circumnavigation would be about the same distance.
He approached the Mental Health Foundation offering to raise money for it.
Up to yesterday, Mr Newburn had covered about 3600km on his "Great ENZED Charity Run", each day averaging about 75km, although the distance has varied according to the schedule he has prepared.
He is now on his third and fourth pairs of shoes, alternating between them each day. His first two pairs lasted 1000km each.
And this will not be his last venture as he is already planning another next year to again raise money for the Mental Health Foundation. That run will be based around the Taupo 100km ultramarathon next year.
So far, fundraising had been a little slow, but he was still confident of reaching his $30,000 target, as support expected to grow as he nears the finish.
Money is raised as he runs and through his website, http://www.perrysruns.co.nz.
