Thursday, May 2021
As an active supporter of charities and lover of exercise, when Mandy Spek saw the Healthy Harold Hundred pop up on her Facebook feed she couldn’t resist the 20-day challenge in May.
Rallying her gym buddy, Shannon, into the fold they created the ‘One Team One Dream!’ team to help raise awareness and funds to stamp out bullying in their community.
Mandy has challenged herself to complete a total of 100 kilometres during the 20-day event by balancing out the running with some weights.
“Some days are definitely more of a struggle than others, especially after an intense leg session,” says Mandy.
“When struggling, I’ll go for a more relaxed walk during my lunch break or on the weekends with Shannon or my Groodle, Willow. Willow can slow things a little as all she wants to do is make friends with anyone walking past!”
“I’m staying motivated to meet my daily kilometre target with my ‘One Team One Dream!’ teammate, Shannon, who trains with me at Dawn Athletic in Milton” says Mandy.
“The owners of the gym – coach Caity and coach James – are always checking in to make sure we’re on target. It’s great to have the community spirit behind us.”
On Saturday 15 May the Dawn Athletic community, family and friends rallied together a 5km fun run, with a pink theme, to get as many people active and involved in the Healthy Harold Hundred challenge as possible.
“Rocking retro leg warmers through to ballerina tutus, the whole community jumped on board,” says Mandy.
“My advice for other supporters who are looking to rally their community together is to be active on social media and talk to people about the cause. Reminding everyone their donation is tax deductible and that a little bit goes a long way, helps boost the overall fundraising target.”
“I experienced Healthy Harold when I was in primary school. Who could forget Harold? The education program is something that stuck with me years on and it’s great to be giving back to a cause that made a positive impact on me during my school years.”
“I signed up for the Healthy Harold Hundred, as I know what it’s like to be bullied. It’s not nice. Little things that are said repeatedly over time add up. If we can educate people on the impact of bullying now, hopefully in the future it will be less of an occurrence.”
Check out their progress on their One Team One Dream! page here.
