by Nicholas Duck
Trafalgar's Jason Rantall officially wrapped up his latest gruelling running challenge last weekend, all in the name of mental health and creating conversations.
Jason, who co-owns Trafalgar mental health organisation Bettermentall with his wife Kerry, spent 10 days straight running and walking around the Joe Carmody Track in Newborough from May 22 to 31.
More than 600 people joined him in his journey at different stages, talking about all sorts of topics from things as simple as running tips to family issues and mental health struggles.
Jason said he was "blown away" by the support of the local community.
"Without it I wouldn't have gotten through the 10 days. We're a lot stronger with support. People opened up about all kinds of things and it was just amazing to see," he said.
Jason's original goal was to run 801km across the 10 days, matching the number of Victorians who died by suicide in 2023. A combination of injuries and a shortened day or two meant he eventually finished at 774km. That's 953,697 steps and almost 86 hours of moving time.
And as for falling just short of his target, Jason didn't mind at all.
"The main thing wasn't about me making the 801km, the main goal was the connections and the conversations it would create and just giving the space for people to open up," he said.
"People really challenged themselves and ran further than they ever had before. We had people run half marathons or full marathons who had never run more than a few kilometres."
Bettermentall is in the process of tallying up exactly how many kilometres the community racked up together, with the number currently sitting above 6000km. $18,000 also was raised for the organisation as part of the event.
Eating and keeping down food proved to be some of the biggest challenges Jason faced, as well as getting up every morning with all of his aches and pains knowing he was in for another day of moving for nine to 12 hours.
Despite that, physical pain is something that Jason can handle.
"With physical pain there's a process to recovery, you san see an end goal. Emotional pain often doesn't have that, you don't know when it'll end. So I can take the physical pain."
There won't be much rest for Jason, however. He's already gearing up and planning his training for a local Backyard Ultra event in just a few weeks' time.
"I'm very happy with the outcome in the end. I wouldn't have done this on my own anyway since there wouldn't have been a point but I couldn't have done this on my own," he said.
"I like to say move the body, shift the mind. When we get out there and get moving we don't get caught up in the muck our brains tend to throw our way."
If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 131 114 or call Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 or visit beyondblue.org.au