Peak Hill Inspired by Deadly Runners
In March, Deadly Runners Founder, Georgia Weir visited the Peak Hill Community to inspire them to get active.
Capacity building - LEP23-005-CWLL-01_LLC_012
The issue
The Peak Hill HEART (Healthy Eating, Activity & Resilience Together) Project was developed under the Western NSW Local Health District Building Healthy Communities Challenge, encouraging the community to take on new health initiatives.
We saw the opportunity to invite indigenous runner, and founder of the Deadly Runners program, Georgia Weir to Peak Hill to talk about some of her struggles, that ultimately led to her taking on running.
We know that physical activity boosts mental health by triggering the release of chemicals to help relieve stress, reduce anxiety and improve sleep quality.
The solution
Georgia joined Peak Hill locals for an informal barbecue and spoke about some of her struggles with mental health and addiction.
After battling mental health challenges and addiction, she tried running to help her cope and manage and after six months of training she ran the New York Marathon.
The Deadly Runners movement that began in 2014 after she saw the potential to be able to share her skills to help others to achieve their running goals.
This message inspired a group from Peak Hill to form and commence their journey.
The impact
Georgia's inspiring story has encouraged others to take on the challenge of a walk to run program to improve their health. This has been an opportunity to encourage each other and challenge themselves.
A group of Peak Hill residents have been running with a goal of completing an upcoming short local run and also setting an example for others of what can be achieved if you work towards a goal.
We hope that she will join us back in Peak Hill to encourage more people to take the challenge and other challenges into the future.
Learnings
We are planning ahead to bring Georgia back to Peak Hill to present special Deadly Runner shirts and engage in further activities with the group.
It only takes one person to inspire a group of people, who can then inspire others to take on a new activity to benefit their life and their community.
Encouragement of each other through the process, to keep going, is crucial.
Key facts
- Under the Peak Hill Building Healthy Communities Challenge, Deadly Runners Founder, Georgia Weir was invited to speak at Peak Hill.
- Georgia spoke about her struggles with mental health and addiction and inspired a new group of Deadly Runners in Peak Hill.