The birth of a movement
The Deadly Runners began in 2014 with a small committed group from Queanbeyan NSW. Wanting to give mob the opportunity to experience how running made her feel and changed her life, founder Georgia Weir volunteered to coach locals to run 5km. Training consistently 3 days a week, they achieved their goals and inspired a grassroots movement that continues today.
MEET OUR CREW
100% owned and operated by First Nations people, Deadly Runners is committed to investing and empowering mob. Community input and mob led solutions is part of our core values and critical to the work we do. We are proud to provide education and employment opportunities to our running community and are committed to investing in our people
Walter is a member of the first ever Narooma Deadly Runners group. He is a proud Walbunja man of the Yuin Nation and holds a strong connection to country. In the past 6 months he has held the full-time position of Deadly Runners Manager, responsible for overseeing our running programs and community events. He has been coaching the Narooma Deadly Runners consistently 3 times a week, and helped implement and deliver our Deadly Colour Fun Run. Walter is currently training runners to compete in the 10k event at this year’s Gold Coast Marathon, where he will complete his first Full Marathon.
A proud Walbunja women, Ash is heavily involved in the local Eurobodalla community both culturally and creatively. She helped deliver our first ever Beginner program to the Wallaga Lake community and has been an integral member of our running community since it commenced here on the South Coast. Ash is one of our casual coaches, and a strong leader amongst our running community.
Trevor Thomas is a proud Yuin man who has been instrumental in the success of the Deadly Runners on the South Coast. He joined the Byron Bay Deadly Runners for a couple of running sessions while visiting the North Coast and continued to run on his own after returning home. He played an important part in establishing Deadly Runners groups at Batemans Bay, Narooma and Wallaga Lake. Trevor along with Ash, coached the Wallaga Lake Deadly Runners before handing the reigns over to Reece Ladmore.
Reece is passionate about making a difference in the community, and understands the importance of being a role model and leader. Through the day, he works at Narooma High School supporting and mentoring local students, and is also responsible for coaching the Wallaga Lake Deadly Runners. Despite his young age, this proud Djiringanj man of the Yuin Nation is already showing strong leadership and we are proud to have him in our team.
Running has had a profound impact on me. I
have battled with mental health and addiction my whole life and in 2012 I tried
running as I was desperately looking for something that would help me cope and
manage… and that’s exactly what running did!
In 2013, I ran the New York Marathon after 6 months of training. This was a life-changing experience. At this point, running had such a positive impact on my mental health that I obtained my Cert IV in Fitness and Athletics Coaching and started a running group in my hometown of Queanbeyan NSW, and we called ourselves the Deadly Runners
Passion into purpose
I wanted to give mob access to free professional coaching, so they can experience the benefits of running. This was aimed at mob who were unfit, and with little to zero running experience. I took them through an 8-week walk/run program and at the end of the 8 weeks, provided participants stayed injury-free, they could run 5k non-stop. The popularity of the group grew on social media and via word of mouth. In the first year, 34 participants ran their first 5k, many also completed 10k and half marathons. In the first year, the group collectively lost 150kg.
