Kirrily Dear will complete a 12-day, 860 kilometre, multi-stage ultra marathon through regional NSW to raise awareness for men’s violence against women.
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She will be running for the White Ribbon foundation.
The run begins on November 14 at Walgett, she’ll be in Dubbo on the 22 and 23 and finishes in Forbes on November 25.
She said she’s physically ready but not yet emotionally ready for the White Ribbon Run.
“There are parallels with ultrarunning and domestic violence- the mental barriers you have to overcome, the daily struggles,” she said.
Ms Dear’s mission began when she started running seven years ago. She joined a running club and her big goal was to run a half marathon.
Within the first 14 months of training she competed in a 100km race and never looked back.
Violence against women has always been a passionate topic for Ms Dear and she decided to do something about it with her love of running.
Ms Dear sent an email to White Ribbon, expecting a polite decline and was quite surprised with the “hugely enthusiastic yes.”
“I’m speechless. I’m overwhelmed by all the support,” she said.
The main goal of the run is to not only raise awareness of domestic violence, but to also highlight the success stories.
“I want to show what’s happening in these areas and show what’s working. We can’t wait for other people to fix it,” Ms Dear said.
“My goal is to make that connection not to wait for other people to fix it, that it’s all of our responsibility and we can all do things to help.
“I want to work towards domestic violence losing its taboo factor.”
Domestic violence in the western region shows some of the highest figures in NSW.
The starting point of the run, Walgett is top-ranked for domestic violence rates, 20 times the NSW average while Dubbo is ranked 13th, twice the NSW average.
Ms Dear and her team have set up a Facebook page (facebook.com/whiteribbonrun) and encourage everyone to visit the page and start a discussion.
