I am fundraising for Bravehearts
I am participating in Bravehearts 777 Marathon Perth on Monday 30 June 2025. I am raising money for Bravehearts an Australian child protection organisation solely dedicated to the holistic and coordinated prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse.
Did you know that 1 in 4 Australians have experienced child sexual abuse? Please donate to help fight this insidious crime.
My Updates
Race Day - Perth Edition - 30 June 2025
Monday 30th JunBravehearts 777 Marathon - Perth edition was today and the team turned out for the event and performed brilliantly!
Our Director, Frank Alderton, did the Half Marathon solo as I’m out sick with shingles!
It’s the furthest he’s run and managed it in just over 2 hours and it was a sensational effort to achieve that time for a first half marathon!
He was also our top fundraiser with just over $2,000 raised.
Our firm’s Melbourne run is this Wednesday and hopefully we can get some more donations in before then!
Currently we’ve raised $7,743!!!
As I said, I will do a makeup run when I’m healthy but…
Here comes the but…
I did publicly state that if I hit my target this year, which exceeded last years, I would run…
A FULL MARATHON
so… I thought I was safe but today I received a massive donation from a very generous client and hit my target
Soooo
Once I’m 100% and fit, I’ll be running 6 laps of the course instead of 3 for a total of 42.2km
I am a man of my word.
You can STILL donate but I want to say I am so thankful to EVERYONE who has donated
Your support means the world to me but also to the lives of children it will help change ❤️
The best laid plans…
Friday 27th Jun Unfortunately after pushing myself too hard and for too long in all aspects of my life, I’ve developed shingles and won’t be able to participate in the event this year.The team is obviously still running but as the “Captain” of the team and spearheading the campaign, I am beyond disappointed.
We’ve actually exceeded our target of $5,000 and raised $5,746 to date!
For our first year, that’s an amazing result
I will be running though!
Once I’m healthy again, I plan to run the half marathon
I have course map and it is important to me to see this through for everyone who donated but also for the charity itself.
Whilst I do love a medal, this year the medal will have to be a symbolic one for me in all we’ve achieved in a short space of time!
There are challenges in life and whilst this is an individual setback I am so so proud of the team for the funds we’ve collectively raised, the training those running the longer distances have put it and for the firm’s fantastic support of the charity!
This is just the beginning of the journey!
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Race Day Singlets have arrived!
Friday 13th Jun
Training when it’s hard
Sunday 8th Jun It’s been a challenging last couple of months.We’ve had major deadlines, staff changes and still navigating the intricacies of 3 firms merged into 1.
There’s the mental exhaustion from long hours rolling into family life rolling into training and often poor sleep.
To top it off, I managed to succumb to another bug which became a chest and sinus infection but deadlines don’t change and so I am pushing through.
I have a motto “if I’m well enough to work… I’m well enough to run”
It’s not quite true and probably slowed my recovery but I’m still persevering.
The “surge” training the other night nearly buried me afterward but I still managed to 8 x threshold runs at 3:55 (I clocked 3:40’s on avg x 30 seconds with 30 seconds slow jogs between each session.
So … “Why?”
Why not rest, why not skip a few sessions?
Because that’s not how life works for some people
Sometimes in life, you’ll suffer adversity and trauma and you’ll have no choice but to persevere.
I know this better than some, not as well as others
It’s helped me build the mental resilience to keep going when life gets hard.
I don’t think it’s a surprise that people who have suffered traumatic experiences actually make good runners
They’ve already had to demonstrate resilience and fortitude to overcome
Running whilst sick and exhausted compared to that? No problem
You find out a lot about yourself when you have to dig deep
It’s why I enjoy the challenge of running
It’s something hard I chose as opposed to something I had to endure
Any time I’m struggling on a run, I remind myself what I’ve overcome and what others have also overcome, regardless of the differences.
I know I can get through it and I want to continue to help to raise funds to help kids get through their trauma and have the facilities via Bravehearts to recover, rebuild, thrive and ultimately shine again
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Singlets now approved!
Saturday 10th May At 6:30am this morning I received the manufacturer’s prototype for our running singlet for this year's event!They look fantastic! We’ll certainly stand out on the day!
It’s been quite the learning curve this year, assembling a team, navigating sponsors, logos, graphic designers and manufacturers. It’s an entirely new experience for me and honestly the team at Bravehearts has been sensational. Kylie has helped me throughout, provided introductions to both GD’s and Manufacturers and everyone has been great to deal with.
The timeframes been tight but we managed it!
I’m really looking forward to wearing the final product and once the event is over we’ll be framing up a singlet, bib, medal and team photo for 2025 to hang proudly in our offices!
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Choosing to succeed
Tuesday 29th Apr I think this is a great title, it goes to the heart of the message which is everyone can succeed in life. The degree of success may vary but we’re all human and watching other people succeed and believing that you too can also succeed in a passion, a hobby or even conquering our own struggles, will take you far in life. Ultimately how far you go, how high you reach will be up to you.In my recent training block I finally broke a 16 year personal best for a Half Marathon. It was a moment of personal triumph but the hard work went on behind the scenes.
I ran early mornings, late nights, in the middle of the day during the hottest days with no breeze. I ran in rain, headwind and especially on the days I didn’t want to.
I had setbacks.
Last year, 2 weeks prior to the Perth Marathon, I went for this PB in training, blew out my lower back, came agonisingly close to the PB (1 minute out) but then missed the Marathon and sat on the sidelines for 2 months whilst I healed.
But like an ant hill that’s been knocked over, I started to rebuild. I developed a new plan, worked out where I went wrong, adjusted my fueling, hydration, training plans.
My times got better and I felt stronger. My stretching and rehab was on point.
On Sunday, I had that feeling, I knew it was the day and I set out to finally break that PB.
It wasn’t easy, I took it km by km and when I struggled I reminded myself I was on my target time and I’d trained for this. My self talk was constantly reminding me that I knew what I was doing, to stick to the plan and when I was 3/4 in and slightly ahead of target, that I’d never have a better opportunity than now to succeed.
I did!
1 hour 47 minutes and 10 seconds.
46 year old me beat 30 year old me by 38 seconds!!!
It may not be the fastest time, a lot of people are faster, it doesn’t matter, THIS was MY race and I chose to succeed for me!
Success in anything requires change.
To achieve something you haven’t before ultimately means you have to change, you have to grow and evolve.
Change is hard, it’s why most people don’t -
It’s a difficult process.
In those respects, the difficulties abused children will face in overcoming horrific experiences is similar. It is a struggle, it will be hard, harder than nearly any of us will ever realise.
The 777 Marathon in some ways is a reflection of that struggle in the form of running. You have support teams, you develop plans and strategies but at the end of the day it is up to the individual to overcome and succeed.
Success in running is one thing but succeeding in overcoming abuse and embracing your wonderful self again is one of the greatest challenges.
When I have to dig deep, I remind myself that my struggles in that moment, whilst hard, is no where near as hard as it is for those kids, and that gives me strength to continue.
For any child or parent that’s struggling, I know it’s a hard road, one of the hardest but keep going. You deserve to succeed and thrive. Life can be great again ultimately if you choose it to be!
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Thank you to my Sponsors
$706
Nurv
$106.12
Jazz And Bren
Hey Good luck drew From jazz and bren
$106.12
David Airey
Best Wishes Drew
$106.12
Stuart Brown
$106.12
Nikki T
DB! Always an inspiration! Your dedication to using your passion, skills and determination to help others (and causes) is admirable - always proud of you my friend! All the best, Nikki T!
$54.12
Amanda Streitberg
Happy to get the ball rolling on this one!! Well done to your team on dedicating themselves to a very important cause!
$54.12
Drew Streitberg
$54.12
Dee And Mark Toogood
Take care of yourself and keep up the great work.
$54.12
George And Jennifer Streitberg
Good luck for the run and fundraising
$22.58
Megan Crowley
Awesome work for an awesome cause!!
Our Team
Drew St Berg (C)
Raised so far:
$1,369.54
Drew St Berg (C)
Frank Alderton
Raised so far:
$2,157.08
sue darch
Raised so far:
$218.17
Manny
Raised so far:
$262.24
Darren Howard
howie Huang
Weiwei Zhang
kim Alderton
Raised so far:
$456.53
Giusy Parnolfi
Raised so far:
$733.12
Glenn Richmond
Raised so far:
