Nedd Brockmann delivers keynote speech to hundreds at the MECC for Whitsunday Voices
From smashing marathons after a day on the tools to running across Australia with maggots in his feet, Nedd Brockmann wowed fans with stories of the most gruelling moments of his life — and made a generous local donation.
Mackay
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He’s a physio’s worst nightmare, and at times, his own worst enemy.
But for thousands of fans across Mackay, Nedd Brockmann was the voice of inspiration and a sign that “we are so much more capable than what we think”.
Yet, he doesn’t want the accolades that come with it.
At the closing of the Whitsunday Voices Festival on Friday, the newly mullet-less 26-year-old sparky from Forbes, NSW wowed a packed out MECC with chilling details of the hardest moments of his life as he took on the mammoth 4000km run across Australia and 1600km run around a racetrack to raise funds for homelessness.
But Mr Brockmann’s first 11 days of the Cottesloe to Bondi run were perhaps his most gruelling.
Riddled with leg injuries and maggots eating away at his toe for days on end, he set out to run 100 km a day.
“The first day took 10hrs, the second day 11, third day 12 and by the 11th day I took 17, 18 hours,” he said.
“That gets pretty nasty when you’ve only got about 3 hrs in bed, and of those three hours your resting heart rate is at about 100, everything’s inflamed and you’ve got to wake up at 4am and go again.”
But for Mr Brockmann, it was just the “cost of doing business”.
By the time he crossed the finish line at Bondi Beach in front of 10,000 people, Mr Brockmann had raised $2m for ‘We are Mobilise’, a homelessness charity, thus beginning his journey to raising $10m for the cause.
But his aim to tackle the tragedy of homelessness, which has become endemic to Mackay and North Queensland, started years before.
“When I went to Sydney and I saw it in Eddie Avenue in the city, I was just so taken back as to why there’s people on the street and why is it that I have opportunities that these people don’t,” he said.
“It’s no fault of their own.
“Ninety-eight per cent of homelessness has got nothing at all to do with drinking alcohol, drugs gambling. It’s domestic violence, housing affordability, living week to week.”
On the night, Nedd Brockmann announced a $50,000 donation to local homelessness charity Chances House, which would provide 15 people with a bond and rent paid to help them set their new life and get out of the cycle of homelessness.
“I felt a lot of synergy with what you’re doing,” he told the audience.
Nedd Brockmann has released two books, Fired-Up and Showing Up, and starred in a compelling Netflix documentary, RUNN which detailed his harrowing running journey in 2022 and in 2024.
He also said he was in the process of writing a book himself without the use of a ghost writer.
Hundreds of young students also shared a special moment when the runner donated a fresh pair of runners to a young fan during his talk to students at the Whitsunday Anglican School Hall on Friday, July 19.
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