{"id":158546,"date":"2025-09-21T09:51:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T09:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/158546\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T09:51:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T09:51:15","slug":"14000km-and-12-pairs-of-shoes-brooke-mcintoshs-incredible-journey-around-australia-for-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/158546\/","title":{"rendered":"14,000km and 12 pairs of shoes: Brooke McIntosh\u2019s incredible journey around Australia for mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took 12 pairs of shoes, 14,000km and 200 days for Brooke McIntosh to become the youngest and fastest woman to run around Australia.<\/p>\n

Ms McIntosh finished her epic run around Australia to raise funds for WA mental health charity the Blue Tree Project on Sunday, greeted by a crowd of supporters at the finish line at City Beach.<\/p>\n

It took her almost seven months to complete the feat, raising more than $200,000.<\/p>\n

Ms McIntosh started running back in August 2022 after struggling with her own mental health and later being involved in a high-speed car accident. She did the run in a bid to break the stigma surrounding mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly feel like superwoman,\u201d she said at the finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very surreal but its just proof that with perseverance, resilience and determination you can achieve anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BrookeCamera IconBrooke McIntosh completes her record-breaking 14,000km run around Australia in City Beach today after more than 180 days on the road. Her journey was aimed at raising awareness and funds for mental health through the Blue Tree Project. Credit: Michael Wilson\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Ms McIntosh\u2019s commitment to the cause is not only evident in the 200 days spent on the road but by the fact that she sold her house to do it.<\/p>\n

She faced many obstacles on her journey, including jumping over snakes, being chased by a baby calf and suffering through extreme weather, exhaustion and isolation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo put my life on pause for almost seven months to come out and do this, to sacrifice time with family, that was the hardest part about this mission,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ms McIntosh said she recited a daily mantra as a way to cope with life on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne more step, breath and day and I can overcome and achieve anything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"BrookeCamera IconBrooke McIntosh completes her record-breaking 14,000km run around Australia in City Beach today after more than 180 days on the road. Her journey was aimed at raising awareness and funds for mental health through the Blue Tree Project. Also pictured is Brooke’s partner Matthew Guscott. Credit: Michael Wilson\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

The Blue Tree Project is a charity that raises awareness around mental health by painting blue trees across the country.<\/p>\n

Charity founder Kendall Whyte said there are 1500 blue trees across Australia acting as visual conversation starters, encouraging people to check in with one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to change the way that we talk about mental health and Brooke is one of the champions helping us do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The tree is symbolic of Ms Whyte\u2019s brother who passed away in 2018, years prior he painted a tree blue in the Australian Wheatbelt as a practical joke.<\/p>\n

\"BrookeCamera IconBrooke McIntosh completes her record-breaking 14,000km run around Australia in City Beach today after more than 180 days on the road. Her journey was aimed at raising awareness and funds for mental health through the Blue Tree Project. Pictured is a blue tree at City Beach. Michael Wilson Credit: Michael Wilson\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Ms McIntosh described the various people she met along the way and the discussions they had around mental health and personal struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me this run has been about the conversations over the kilometres and I feel like I\u2019m living proof…you can overcome the darkest days,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When asked what she planned to do next, Ms McIntosh simply replied: \u201cI\u2019m going home to sleep, recover and take a nice stroll.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took 12 pairs of shoes, 14,000km and 200 days for Brooke McIntosh to become the youngest and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-158546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}