Four marathons a day: Nedd Brockmann chases record as ‘cooked’ new challenge begins
Two years after completing a 3953km journey from Perth to Sydney, Australian cult hero Nedd Brockmann is about to embark on his next utterly insane challenge.
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Two years after completing a 3953km journey from Perth to Sydney, Australian cult hero Nedd Brockmann is about to embark on his next incredible challenge.
In October 2022, Brockmann became a household name after following his arduous 46-day journey, which helped raise $1.5 million for homelessness charity We Are Mobilise.
But having published a book, released a documenatry, launched his own line of chocolate milk and raised millions for charity, the 25-year-old begins another venture on Wednesday afternoon — a 1610km run around the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre track.
Watch Nedd Brockman’s documentary “Runn” on Kayo Freebies. Sign up today! >
Brockmann will attempt to break the 1000-mile record of 10 days, 10 hours, 30 minutes and 36 seconds, set by Yiannis Kouros in New York in 1988.
The former electrician, determined to push his fundraising tally towards $10 million, will need to run 402 laps of the iconic track for ten straight days — the equivalent of almost four marathons every 24 hours.
“I love it, I think it’s the purest form of being alive, those moments in time where the only decision you have is to get from A to B,” Brockmann told Fox Sports in July ahead of the release of the documentary Runn, which tracks his cross-country expedition and is available on Fox Sports and Kayo.
“It’s almost like survival mode. There’s nothing like it. When you’re in the mundane of life, you’re just going through the paces, and every day is just ‘uh,’ that’s not for me.
“I’m an intense fella, and it’s good to bite down on the pillow and get on with things, and do things for good as well. And obviously the money raised that we’re helping out with the homeless is something that can’t go unnoticed.”
Instead of having the gorgeous Australian landscape as his backdrop, Brockmann will jog around the same 400m-track 4023 times. It’s an unthinkable prospect for most, but not Brockmann.
“I am so calm in the boredom, it’s not even funny,” he continued.
“There’s something about this freedom of the deliberate insanity of just doing something cooked like that.
“It’s a beautiful place of mind if you just let it do its thing. It’s really, really cool and will take you to amazing places. You answer all the big questions.
“It’s a bit of a flow state. When you can just acknowledge that the pain is going to be there, and when it does come, you just remove yourself from that. You try and, I guess, alleviate your brain from the pain that your body’s sending.
“At the end of the day, it’s just pain. As long as I can keep putting one foot in front of the other. You’ve told the world you’re gonna do this thing so you may as well f***ing do it.”
Brockmann also took a swipe at sceptics who bombard him with messages on his social media channels.
“There’s always sceptics. You get them in any f**king part of life, whether you’re boxing, whether you’re trying to go well in business,” he said.
“I could never sit on a phone and message a comment on someone’s (social media) page, but there are people out there who do that, and I just think they’re sad f***s.
“The Man in the Arena quote is one of the greatest quotes out there. It’s like, ‘How dare you talk bad about someone who’s putting it all out there and daring to be great,’ because it takes courage to put yourself on the line in order to either succeed or fail in front of everyone.
“I’m doing the work, and at the end of the day, you’ve got to let your actions do the talking, because words are just words. There will always be scepticism until it’s either done or it isn’t. So bring them all on, I say.”
Funds raised will go towards We Are Mobilise’s ‘Nedd’s Kickstart Scholarship’, a program aimed at offering employment, direct cash transfers and counselling to people at risk of homelessness.
Supporters and fans can watch Nedd’s Uncomfortable Challenge by following
@Nedd.Brockmann on TikTok where they will be able to send him messages of support and
donate directly to We Are Mobilise on the platform.
You can support Brockmann by signing up for Nedd’s Uncomfortable Challenge or donating here.
Originally published as Four marathons a day: Nedd Brockmann chases record as ‘cooked’ new challenge begins