Manning Valley Virtual Team

A group of 30 runners has taken on a marathon venture to support the domestic violence awareness campaign Run Against Violence. 

Three teams of 10 have undertaken a ‘virtual run’ to support Run Against Violence founder Kirrily Dear as she embarks on a 1300km run from Broken Hill to Sydney over 19 days.

Each team of 10 is collectively running the same distance as Kirrily over the 19 days that the ultra run is taking place. This run is focused on raising awareness of domestic violence and the impact that it has on children, and is Kirrily’s second ultra run. The team consists of runners from the Manning area as well as others from Newcastle and even Queensland.

Virtual run organiser Marg Lewis met Kirrily at the Dubbo Stampede, where Kirrily was a guest speaker.

She was so inspired by her motivation that she got into contact with her to see if she could help

“She is such a strong person, to have such an interest in an issue that hasn’t impacted her personally, it’s just so inspiring.” she said.

From that meeting, Marg organised the ‘vitual run’ to coincide with Kirrily’s marathon, to further spread the message of awareness about family violence.

“Domestic violence is such a prevalent issue, the impact it has on so many children is heartbreaking,” said Marg, who has volunteered with children who have been affected by domestic violence.

Marg’s team are well on target to meet their goal, having already run 1632km in seven days, with everyone aiming for at least 7.5km each day.

Each running team has their own Facebook page where donations can be made in support of the event, and there is more information available on Kirrily’s website: www.runagainstviolence.com