Steve's 600km Challenge

This event organiser has pledged to either walk, jog or run 500km for the last four months of 2026. 100% of donations received will be donated directly to the Gold Coast Men's Walk and Talk charity.


HI everyone,

Thanks for dropping by.....

Anyone who knows me, knows that while I organise running events, I am not really a runner myself. So running 600km by the end of 2026 is a massive challenge for me physically.

Why did I create this challenge, and why did I chopose the Gold Coast Men's Walk and Talk charity?

I beleive all of us at times, struggle with mental health to varying degrees. We all have our own battles - for me, it is honestly letting people down. I have organised over 50 running events since I left a cushy Council job, where I was an event organiser funnily enough. I actually loved the job, until the job changed internally, and I chose to quit a very good job rather then work against my morals and gut feelings.

For the past eight years, I have worked full-time from home, which I struggle with. I prefer to be around people, hence why I love my events, but if you ask anyone who has worked full-time from home, they will tell you of the solitude and the difficulty in seperating your workplace from your home/family place. I keep doing it for my family first and foremost.

Aside from the working from home conundrum, cancelling events is another mental health struggle of mine. It may not sound like much to most people, but if you have ever spent months creating something, then to have it taken away from you before finishing it, you would have a small insight into what I mean.

Whether it be having interstate runners stranded and returned home due to tough COVID border closure protocols, wild weather forcing the cancellation of an event less then 24 hours from the event race start, or the rising costs of living forcing price rises on literally every part of your event and thus losing any form of break even chances, I have sufferred it all in silence. Only a select few know of the guilt I carry around from all of those above scenario's which have unfortunately happened on multiple occasions, and while I know they are out of my control, I still feel like I failed people.

Earlier this year I chose to take a break from organising upwards of 7 or 8 events a year on top of mt full-time job and being a husband and father. I was mentally burnt out. Things I should have been completing on a timeline, dragged out and some still aren't completed.

We can all relate to this burn out. The best thing we can do is stop, take a break and relax. It has taken me years to realise this and I am getting better at accepting that th8ings don't always go to plan. A long term friend of mine challenged himself to running 150km in a month as he to was struggling, in a job that many of us would struggle to do day in and day out. I low key joined him on his challenge, and here we are now.

My goal is simple - to raise money for a smaller charity that does just as important work as the larger charities, but with limited resources. My goal is to walk/run 600km beween September 1, 2026 and midnight of December 31, 2026. That equates to roughly 5km a day, which to my running friends sounds like small fry, but for me, it is a challenge. This challenge does not include daily steps or things like mowing the lawn or days out with family. It must be a dedicated walk or run activity. The rough plans is to complete around 150km a month.

Thanks for stopping by and I will keep posting my progress.