Teen plans 4,000km journey for mental health

AN Armstrong Creek resident is deep into his training to run across Australia to raise awareness for men’s mental health.

In August, Griff Knowles will leave Perth’s Cottesloe Beach and run east every day until he reaches Sydney’s Bondi Beach, almost 4,000km away.

If he gets there, the 19-year-old will become the youngest person to complete the Perth-Sydney run, but he said spreading the message that “it’s not weak to speak” was more important.

Knowles hopes to raise $25,000 for Talk2MeBro, an Australian suicide prevention organisation that provides mental health awareness and education workshops.

The teenager said his own experiences, and those of people close to him, were what drew him to the organisation.

“They’re great blokes. I spoke to them before I finalised anything and they’re the ones who stood out to me with their values,” Knowles said.

“I’m trying to get the word out there that one conversation can change a life.

“I’ve struggled, I know people that have struggled – it’s such a stigma that needs to be broken. It’s not weak to speak.”

He said the idea for the cross-country run was inspired after he completed a half-marathon for the first time.

“I was like ‘Oh, hang on, that was actually fun’,” Knowles said.

“I kept pushing myself and ran a marathon, then an ultra-marathon, and kept doing ultra-marathons.”

After running for 24 hours straight at the track at Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus and covering almost 195km, Knowles began looking for a challenge that could also make a positive difference.

“It came to me: I’m going to run across Australia,” he said.

“I was thinking about it for a while, and then I was just like ‘Stuff it. I’m just going to launch it and see what happens’.”

Knowles will leave Perth on 24 August and aims to arrive in Sydney on 18 November, averaging 60km each day.

His training includes daily running, four dedicated recovery sessions each week and deliberately putting himself in uncomfortable situations, such as frequent cold showers.

“I know when I’m out there, it’s going to be brutal, so I’m putting myself in the mindset that it’s not going to be easy and I’m just going to have to push through no matter what,” Knowles said.

For more information or to donate, head to talk2mebro.grassrootz.com or follow @griff_knowles on Instagram.