In August of 2023, it took Brooke McIntosh 1,600km of running to realise that she wanted to do another 14,080km more. Now, the eye-watering task of running around Australia looks set to leave her in uncharted territory.
Because while most runners eventually hit a wall, Brooke doesn’t. She runs straight through it every time, without fail.
The 29-year-old is just over a month into her nation-wide tour, running approximately 80 kilometres a day. It’s two marathons a day, every day, for half a year. The concept makes your legs ache just thinking about it, but during the most arduous stints in the baking sun, three key words are ‘running’ through her head.
“Just one more.”
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It’s a mantra Brooke lives by, and it ties into the broader reason for her journey; raising awareness for mental health. The Blue Tree Project is a charity driven to help initiate the tough conversations revolving around mental health, and is who Brooke hopes to raise well over a million dollars for throughout her trek. Scattered across every continent, blue trees help people ask the question: ‘Why is that tree blue?’ — a gateway question that helps break down the stigmas and outdated beliefs around mental health.
So for Brooke, ‘just one more’ kilometre while she is struggling physically, translates to ‘just one more’ conversation for someone else who is struggling mentally.
Beyond an admirable mindset and large support team, is a training program and unfathomable diet that has helped her get to this point.
“I’ve been prepping by body for about 18 months, and the training’s just slowly increased. I’ve hit weeks accumulating 250 kilometres on my legs … It’s probably about 50 hours of training, physios, chiropractors (a week),” she told this masthead.
“It’s ridiculous how much I have to eat; anywhere from 8,000 calories!”
It’s a superhuman schedule and level of food consumption that most would baulk at, but for Brooke — the sister of two-time Richmond premiership player Kamdyn McIntosh — it’s simply a currency that lets her chase a dream.
When, not if, Brooke completes her run, she will comfortably smash the record for the fastest woman to ever circumnavigate Australia by foot.
“When you go after your own dreams in life, you will do whatever it takes. So when I crossed the finish line (in August of 2023) and realised I still had more in the tank, I was like: ‘Why am I stopping here only having an impact in WA? I want to go bigger and better to have an impact all the way around Australia,” Brooke continued.
“I was emotionally, spiritually, physically in the best condition ever — I just had so much fun out there doing it.”
As she approaches Port Fairy in country Victoria at the time of writing, Brooke is enduring the back end of what she predicted to be the toughest leg of her journey, weeks two to eight. A leaf out of the book of friend Sean Bell, who completed the same feat only seven months ago, she says will help her conquer the early demons.
“Once I’m in the rhythm, I’ll be sweet. But weeks two, three and four will be really challenging,” Brooke said.
“He’s (Sean) been giving me tips, and I’ve been picking his brain on how he did it and what that looked like. He’s been giving me a lot of inspiration for this challenge.”
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While the running is gruelling, Brooke insists the biggest challenge hasn’t been the kilometres; it’s been adjusting to life as a step-mom while sticking to her punishing schedule.
“My whole training regimen changed. Before, I would take as much time as I needed to get the training done. But now I’m entwining family and personal life into that mix,” she says.
“Ensuring I’m hitting the training I need to do, while also having the personal life I need, has been the hardest challenge.”
Brooke’s journey may be a solo mission on foot, but she’s far from alone. Her family and support staff spread across the country are backing her every step of the way — including brother Kamdyn, who understands first-hand the mental and physical resilience needed for elite performance.
The 193-game Tigers veteran revealed that seeing Brooke take on this colossal feat has been eye-opening, despite being someone who himself understands the mental and physical resilience needed for elite performance.
“When she first told me (of the run), I was a little bit like: ‘Shit, that’s a fair way. How long is that going to take? Is that all year?’” Kamdyn told foxfooty.com.au.
“The resilience that I’ve had to overcome during my footy career hasn’t just helped me with my footy ability, it’s also helped me with life outside of footy.
“Brooke talks about being a great step-mom with stuff like family balance, and I have no doubt that the resilience she’s about to show with this run, she’ll have such big learnings from it.”
At its core, Brooke’s journey isn’t just about personal endurance, it’s about impact. Her message of resilience and pushing boundaries is something that extends far beyond sport.
Mental health is an issue that extends to all corners of society, and is particularly prevalent within elite sporting circles such as the AFL, says Kamdyn.
“We (AFL players) probably do tend not to speak up as much. We stuff down all our emotions to try deal with it ourselves a lot of the time, and to be honest, I see a lot of AFL level and men’s sport,” the Richmond utility highlighted.
“It is being more talked about in the AFL and out there in the world, so it’s amazing for Brooke to bring more awareness and light to it.
“Her mantra that she sort of lives by is ‘just one more’, and I’m a little bit the same with my career.”
And a passing word from the 31-year-old on his sister’s endurance?
“I can’t even run one marathon, let alone two marathons a day for six months! It’s just unheard of. If I ran even half a marathon, my calves would blow up,” Kamdyn laughed.
Brooke’s mission is to help raise mental health awareness and funds for Blue Tree Project, a charity who help spark important conversations & kick the stigma. Across her journey, she hopes to become the fastest female to run around Australia.
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