Social Justice: Go Girls 100km Challenge

Celebrating Resilience and Community.

On October 17th, 40 students across Years 9 and 10, accompanied by Mr. Regalo, Mr. O’Brien, and Mr. McLennan, gathered at the Lakeside Athletics track to run the Go Girls inaugural 100km run for the freedom and betterment of vulnerable women across Victoria. Go Girls is a not-for-profit foundation who seeks long-term plans and solutions to assist vulnerable women facing prevalent issues such as domestic violence, unemployment, and homelessness, through events, programs, and additional support.

We were organised into four teams, each with a leader, ten runners, and a lap counter, with each team running a continuous relay that spanned 50km. The day may have been a hot one but the spirit of our teams was even hotter! We were cheering each other on, socialising with students from other schools and our teachers even ran a few laps with us in solidarity. With each other's support and encouragement the day was a huge success with Mac.Rob Purple finishing their laps before every other school, with plenty of time to spare.

We were fortunate to have a chance to talk to some of the Go Girls heroes who had overcome their challenges, and with the co-founders of Go Girls, Michelle Jobson and Rita Bottomley. We had the privilege of hearing the incredible stories from the Go Girls alumni, which truly showed us all the work that goes on behind the scenes of this organisation, and how to support their work in creating a better society for women, now and in the future.

There were also several star appearances throughout the day, one in particular was by 400m Australian Olympic Champion, Tamsyn Lewis, the ambassador of the Go Girls 100km run who truly inspired us to strive for our true potential and support other women to reach their true potential too. We got to see the first and ever live performance of the Go Girls anthem, a powerful song about embracing your inner passion and true self. The Mac.Rob runners were able to embody the values of the Go Girls foundation: compassion, acceptance and courage, and represented the vision of honouring, connecting and celebrating women.

This day was an incredibly valuable experience that we will take with us. We are extremely grateful to have been given this opportunity and look forward to Macrob participating in future Go Girls events.

Suri N, Diti P, Chloe L & Leah C