Running for happy heart health

TEAMS from all around the country are taking part in the Heart Foundation’s MyMarathon challenge, aiming to complete a marathon during October.

As part of the effort The Underground exercise trainer Brendan Connor has formed a group of local runners to take part in the effort to raise funds for lifesaving heart research,

“The motivation behind getting the team started, I saw it pop up one day and thought it would be a cool thing to get involved in,” he said.

“I posted it into our Facebook group and asked if anyone was keen to jump on board, then the response I got from it was far more than I had expected.

“We have 12 people doing it now and everyone responded really well, then we all started raising money for that and posted it to our own social media pages.”

Hoping to raise $2000 as a team throughout the challenge, Mr Connor said they are already well on their way.

“For the whole team, we have raised around $1500 already, it’s been great to see everyone get on board,” he said.

“Other members around the gym have been contributing to the fundraising and our own family members have been supporting as well.

“I wanted to take a lead role in promoting this sort of stuff, as someone who is leading exercise it was a really good idea to get people involved with this.”

As a fitness coach the promotion of good physical health is at the core of his day-to-day work.

Although, this isn’t the only driving force pushing Mr Connor towards completing the challenge and raising funds for the Heart Foundation.

“I’ve had a personal experience with heart disease … my dad suffered a pretty severe heart attack when I was 10 years old,” he said,

“That was a big thing for me, I didn’t realise how big of an impact it actually had on me until I realised that’s why I wanted to help people live healthier lives.”

Although the challenge is to run 42 kilometres in a month, Mr Connor has set himself an even steeper goal and is aiming to run double that amount.

“I’m a little bit more comfortable with my running, so I’ve decided to double that and aiming for two marathons,” he said.

“I’ve made another goal that if I can reach a certain figure by the 18 October, I would then boost that up and go to 100 kilometres for the month.

“I thought I’d add a bit of a challenge for myself, it’s a bit of a kick up the bum to do a bit more running which I love.”

To donate to Mr Connor and his team, visit mymarathon.com.au/fundraisers/brendanconnor.