Dubbo's Carolyn Brothers taking part in 2023 Run Against Violence

Ms Brothers is taking part in the annual Run Against Violence.

For 19 days, teams of up to 20 people cross a virtual 1300 kilometre course, all to raise awareness of domestic and family violence.

Ms Brothers has taken part in every RAV since it started in 2017. It came after ultramarathon runner Kirrily Dear ran 1300 km from Broken Hill to Sydney. The 1.7 million steps was to represent the 1.7 million Australians who experience physical abuse before the age of 15.

"Sometimes in the running community the focus will be on the distance or how quickly you do it. That's the real key difference with this event... it's really inclusive. This is more of a collective effort to highlight an issue that many people suffer in silence," Ms Brothers said.

"You don't need to look too far in the media to see the rise of coercive control, and emotional and psychological domestic violence on the rise. I think the more people who are talking about it, the more chance that someone in that circumstance who doesn't feel confident might be able to reach out for support."

As a PDHPE teacher, Ms Brothers teaches about respectful relationships. She's also a Love Bites facilitator - a program that also focuses on teaching teenagers respectful relationships.

As well as awareness, the RAV raises money for National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect to train other facilitators.

"I'm originally from Sydney. I only moved out to Dubbo about 12 or 13 years ago so for me it's become really obvious the difference between access to support [for domestic violence] in the city and rural communities," Mr Brothers said.

However, she said the Dubbo community had a "strong sense of social justice", even if there wasn't the same access to funding or support.

For Ms Brothers, the RAV has become an annual event. Her dad, sisters, niece and one of her daughters are also taking part in this year's event.

While she can't run this year, every day the Dubbo teacher is walking three to eight kilometres to help her team get to 1300 km.

"I'm doing the most I can with my current health status. But that's the value of it," Ms Brothers said.

"I've had friends in the past who have never exercised and just purely because I invited them to join they took part. They're doing one kilometre a day but that's great. It doesn't have to be a big number."

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