Snow Entrepreneur Georgia Weir is an Aboriginal woman who experienced the transformative power of running first-hand. She had been struggling with addiction and mental health issues and says running saved her life. Deadly Runners is her grassroots running club for First Nations people, working in collaboration with local community leaders and Aboriginal Health Organisations to improve physical and mental health outcomes and enable people to make life changes. Georgia’s vision is to grow the network of local running clubs by upskilling and employing local community leaders.
Shannon’s Deadly Runners Story
My name is Shannon Field (pictured above).
I am a proud descendant of the Walbunja people of the NSW far South Coast and the Dharawal people of Botany Bay. I belong to one of the largest families on the NSW South Coast. I was raised with an ongoing and strong connection to my Country and my community.
I also live and have grown up with the complexities and impact of the intergenerational trauma, disposition, and grief of a large Aboriginal family.
I am a survivor of; child sexual abuse; complex (and ongoing) family trauma; drug and alcohol dependencies and most recently of breast cancer. I have spent my entire adult life trying with little success to not let these events define me.
In February 2023 I was 6-month post treatment for breast cancer. I had undergone 16 rounds of dose dense chemotherapy, 2 surgeries and 5 weeks of radiation. I was also in the midst of a significant family disruption that has caused the severing of some of the most influential, important, and lifelong relationships. To say I was at my worst physically, emotionally, and spiritually is an understatement. I was barley functioning and numbing my pain with things that were harmful to my health.
One morning with much trepidation and a little bit of fear I started on my path of becoming a Deadly Runner.
Session after session, week after week I felt myself slowly being led onto a path of reconnection. It didn’t come from divulging my pain with the rest of the runners. It came from the laughs, the yarns, being on country feeling connected. Deadly Runners provided me with the framework especially though my participation with Deadly Runner Connection, Culture and Country Camp on Pitjantjara Yankunytjatjara Country to heal.
Deadly Runners works. The Australian Government through Closing the Gap seek to change and transform lives and build long term, community led solutions; This is it.
Why? Because its about everything else but running. It’s about pride, overcoming shame, it’s about consistency, taking small steps, challenging yourself mentally and physically, but most importantly is it a program that is designed by mob, for mob to succeed.
Shannon is currently training for her first half marathon.
Deadly Runners – Squatting down – Trevor Thomas, Reece Ladmore, Michael Weir and Harley Ladmore.
Standing up – Georgia Weir (Deadly Runners founder), Ashweeni Mason, Walter Stewart and Imelda Parlett.
Photographer is Ben Cook