Family Fun Day to raise awareness

The Lakes Rotary and Run Against Violence (RAV) are joining forces to hold a Family Fun Day on Saturday, August 17, to launch their 2024 Virtual Team Challenge.

The Family Fun Day will take place from 10am to 2pm at Mount Gambier’s Rail Lands.

Along with plenty of free fun for the kids, there will also be a Community Relay.

Batons will be available from 6am to 2pm, so come along as you are, in your Run Against Violence blue or your costume of choice and be part of the fun.

Mount Gambier Run Against Violence organiser Belinda Seaman has been at the forefront of the local campaign for a few years and is looking forward to the 2024 launch.

“The Family Fun Day is part of a plan to spread the profile of Run Against Violence within the community,” she said. “This event is for everyone, so we hope by holding a fun, free, family-focused event in a popular public space we can share our message with the wider community.

“I believe this is the first of its kind for Run Against Violence. We have partnered with Lakes Rotary to enable this to happen, for which we’re extremely grateful.”

Mount Gambier has created other firsts, including ‘parkrun takeovers’, where all the volunteers for the week are RAV supporters.

“This now happens throughout Australia in the lead up to the Run Against Violence Challenge and hopefully the Family Fun Day will inspire other communities to think big and grow their RAV community,” Belinda said.

She was the one who kickstarted the Run Against Violence Challenge and local involvement has increased since that first year.

“In 2017 I was just starting my running journey, found this challenge on Facebook and thought it looked inspiring, so I asked around,” Belinda said. “No one had heard of it, but a few people said they would join me if I captained a team. I decided to go for it, and in just over 24 hours I had two teams. We had a great time racing each other, and many of us have continued every year since.”

From that two team effort in the inaugural year, it grew to 20 a couple of years ago and in 2024, there is at least 11 teams set to take up the challenge.

“We have four first-time team captains which are each recruiting their friends, family and workmates into the RAV community,” Belinda said. “Help will be available at the Family Fun Day too, so we hope to build that number further.”

And Belinda will be part of that help as she looks to continue to inspire others to get involved.

“I don’t run any more, but I still walk the challenge every year,” she said. “Hearing stories from friends and strangers about how domestic and family violence have affected their lives reminds me every year how widespread the problems are.

“How many people are suffering in silence? I believe that the community can make changes for itself with initiatives like Run Against Violence and help each other.”

The Virtual Team Challenge begins on August 30, with teams of 10 to 20 people from across Australia running, walking or rolling, if this is your primary method of transport, a total of 1300km to break the silence and speak out against domestic and family violence.

Team members can walk or run at their own pace, at their chosen time, in their favourite locations.

Each team member then logs their distances travelled into a shared website to watch their team make the ‘virtual’ 1300km journey from Broken Hill to Sydney.

The journey recreates the inaugural run taken by Kirrily Dear in 2017, when she ran solo from Broken Hill to Sydney in 19 days.

The distance of 1300km equates to 1.7 million steps, which is the estimated number of Australians who experienced physical abuse before the age of 15. The route links more than 25 Australian communities, from remote to metropolitan, showing that family violence impacts us all.

“Many of our inaugural team members are still participating, having never missed a year,” Belinda said. “Others have joined along the way and become just as addicted.

“Taking on a physical challenge as a team creates a real bond among participants. We bond over the physical challenges, but also over the cause.

“Run Against Violence share stories from survivors, industry workers, volunteers and team members to inspire and educate everyone throughout the challenge. Whether you walk or run, I urge you to consider taking part. It’s a great cause, an amazing experience, great for your health, and a great way to make friends in the community.

“Our vision is for Run Against Violence communities to be known as safe spaces within every community in the country. Then eventually the whole community will BE the RAV community. It’s up to us to be the change we want to see.”

EVENT DETAILS:

When: Saturday, August 17

Time: 10am to 2pm

Where: Railway Lands, Mount Gambier

Cost: FREE entry, donation appreciated

Activities include:

– Community Relay

– Old-fashioned foot races (three-legged race, sack race, egg and spoon race and more, plus some with a modern twist)

– Community Artwork – everyone invited to contribute to our banner

– Kids art project to take home

– Mini Soccer game

– Music, including local performers