Walking, talking and supporting in new men’s group

A BALLARAT group is providing a regular opportunity for men to get together to walk, talk and support each other.

The Man Walk was established by Marcus Ross last October, and now has about 60 men involved.

The group meets at 9am every second Saturday at the Ballarat Yacht Club on Lake Wendouree, with the next meet-up scheduled for tomorrow, 12 July.

Mr Ross, who is known as the Ballarat group’s manbassador, said The Man Walk simply gets men out and about, walking and talking and enjoying companionship.

“It’s a non-judgemental space where men can just come along and talk as little or as much as they want to,” he said.

“Walking, talking and connecting is the main premise behind it.”

Mr Ross said it could also help overcome loneliness and isolation.

“There’s a lot of research around that men can tend to cut themselves off from the world when different events happen,” he said. “A lot of middle-aged men don’t really have anyone in their life as far as a support network and mates that they can talk to, things like that.”

The Man Walk originated in New South Wales about 10 years ago and has now spread to 72 locations around the country, with almost 130,000 men taking part.

Mr Ross said the concept had even expanded internationally, with groups in New Zealand and Japan.

Mr Ross said he hoped to eventually make the walks weekly as participation and availability grows.

“At the moment I’m the only volunteer running it,” he said. “If we can get a couple of other guys on board that can step in and run the walk if I couldn’t be there for any reason…if we can build a bit of momentum we can hopefully run it weekly.”

Mr Ross said the format is that participants walk for about 45 minutes with no set distance, and then return to the venue for a coffee and continued fellowship.

The group has a Facebook page at facebook.com/groups/tmwballarat that men can join and be kept up to date on events. The movement’s website is themanwalk.com.au.