A local endurance runner is completing 30 marathons across the 30 days of November to raise money for mental health workshops touching the lives of many across the region.
Brady Nankervis is running 42.2km every day for PROJECT30, raising money for Surf-Coast based mental health charity The Shaka Project.
“They do mental health and suicide prevention workshops throughout communities all around Australia but they’re based in Torquay, and all the funds raised are going towards getting as many free workshops to sporting clubs in Geelong, the Bellarine and the Surf Coast,” Brady said.
“They do things in construction communities, workplaces, schools, sporting clubs, a whole range of environments. For example, they’ve spent a lot of time throughout the GDFL in the local football clubs, and right now they’re doing cricket clubs.”
“The target on the website says $20,000 but $30,000 is my target. As soon as it hits $20,000 it will be bumped up.”
The Leopold local said this journey started with his own experiences with mental health struggles.
“The original motivation to do this was my own struggles with mental health, when I was 18, getting diagnosed with anxiety and feeling like my whole world was flipped upside down. If I’d had something like The Shaka Project within my footy club it would’ve been a different story, a different battle going through that,” he said.
“But since I’ve started I’ve had countless messages from people who have been touched by what I’m doing, and unfortunately have been involved with their own experiences of bad mental health. I’ve come into contact with amazing people who have shared their success stories, and some stories that have unfortunately ended in the worst possible way, but it’s made this run way more important and valuable to the community and myself, and given me more reason to continue to push every day.”
“Some days I have messages that just break me emotionally but it makes the run so much easier because it makes you realise that this is more than just 30 marathons in 30 days, it’s really a movement trying to break the stigma and break the silence and get people talking about these issues so we can avoid and prevent as much suicide in the future as we can.”
He hasn’t been doing it alone though, with a number of other people across the community often coming along to join his runs.
“The support has been insane, I could not have asked for more from the Geelong community,” he said.
“I think in the last 10 days I probably ran one or two kilometres by myself, I’ve always got people coming out and joining me.”
The community support has helped him push through some of the more difficult days.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. Every single day is different. I trained very hard to do this and I was probably naive enough to think I might get through unscathed but I picked up a couple of injuries around day 10 and I’ve been nursing them ever since,” he said.
“There’s a couple of hours of recovery after every marathon that I go through to put me in the best position to start and finish the next day.”
It’s all set to wrap up on Sunday 30 November, with Brady keen to bring people together on the final day.
“Day 30’s going to be pretty big. I’ll be running around the Barwon River and finishing at the grasslands next to Landy Field. There might be a few things happening for the fundraiser as well that are yet to be decided,” he said.
“If you’re in a position to come on day 30, I’d appreciate having anyone jump in for a few kilometres, it could be one, it could be two, it could be 42 kilometres, I’d love to have as much of the community there as possible.”
Locals keen to follow Brady’s journey can view his updates and find out where to join in on a run at his Instagram.
Anyone keen to donate can do so here.
If you, or someone you know, are struggling contact…
Lifeline 13 11 14
Beyond Blue 1300 224 636
Headspace 1800 650 890
