A group of Mandurah mums have banded together to raise funds for mental health services by signing up to one of the country’s most over-the-top obstacle course races.
Going by the team name “Mandurah Mombies” – which means sleep-deprived super-mums who stay awake with their kids all night and live on coffee during the day – seven women will compete in the Miss Muddy 2017 competition.
They hoped to raise $2000 for GP down south the Peel Youth Medical Service to help run mental health services for the City’s youth.
Mombies spokeswoman Deb Maybury said they were keen to help where they could because teen mental health was such a concern for them.
“Because there’s a big problem in Mandurah with youth and suicides and depression we thought it was a good idea to highlight it and try to raise money for the community and raise awareness,” she said.
“We thought an obstacle course would be a great idea to encourage people to donate to a good organisation.”
But the women admitted to being apprehensive about the Miss Muddy course they will race on Saturday.
“We’re going to go through an ice bath, a big pit of mud, foam, water slides, rope climbing, walls to climb, sack races, we have to run past sumo wrestlers, there’ll be a water balloon fight and it’s a minimum of five ks which should take about two hours to get around,” Ms Maybury said.
“There is a little bit of apprehension in the team, yes, I think we’re all, ‘oh gosh, what have we gotten ourselves into’.
“But I think once we’re there we’ll just fill our boots with mud, literally.”
Mombie competitor Amy Temple said having fun was the best way to raise money for a good cause.
“It just goes to show that if we can do this to raise money, other people can do fun things to raise money,” she said.
“Next time you’re going on a night out, get people to raise money and put it towards a fantastic cause.”
Eleanor Britton from GP down south said Mandurah was desperate for youth mental health funding.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to have community support, and every little bit counts and when Deb phoned me we thought it was a terrific idea, and for a bunch of mums to do a little bit of health and fitness, it sets an example for younger people, too,” she said.
“It’s fantastic support and we really need the funds to run the programs that we do in school with mental health and just even the awareness of the Headspace petition we're trying to attract, so it’s fantastic.”
To donate go to the GP down south website and click the donate button, including “Mandurah Mombies” in the reason for donation.
Nathan Hondros
Senior Journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
Senior Journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, and Fairfax Media.
