ROSCO RUN
taking mental health outdoors
What does running up a mountain have to do with mental health?
And how can outdoor adventures make an impact?
Well, the up-hill struggle is real.
40% Of Men Won’t Talk About Their Mental Health.
1 in 10 men experience some form of depression or anxiety but less than half seek treatment.
49% of men feel more depressed than they admit to the people in their life.
taking mental health outdoors
Hi, I'm Ross and I was one of those men.
And to cut a long story short - the great outdoors and fell running became my personal therapy.
That, and my awesome family.
Mental Wellness is not Fight Club - we can talk about it
With every run, I started to feel a little more able to talk openly about my own mental health struggles and journey. I became driven to help normalise talking about a topic that had a very real stigma surrounding it for so long. Mens mental wellness.
I realised that my love for the outdoors, for harsh adventures, for wet, cold, arduous fell runs, for nocturnal kayak races, for cycling through miles of thick forest - had the potential to go beyond helping just me.
Challenge Accepted!
It became my mission to utilise my determination, passion, and let's face it - stubbornness(!) to complete some of the wildest outdoor adventure challenges I could find, in order to raise money, raise awareness, normalise conversations and generally support men's mental health.
Raising Awareness
I tell people about myself to normalise discussing your own mental health problems.
Getting others involved
A big part of these challenges is involving the community - and this is one of the most important elements.
Funding support
When I started fund raising, I achieved £10,000 split between CALM, Mountain Rescue, and The Dogs Trust. I am now raising money solely for CALM.
Let's just say it how it is.
If you are interested in me hosting a talk or workshop with your running club, workplace, school or college about exactly how the great outdoors can be a power-tool in dealing with mental health then get in touch!
Together we can dive into the realities balancing mental health issues with being 'a good dad', 'a strong husband', a 'normal' bloke, and normalising talking about mental wellness.
The hill looked hard at first, but I got over it...
Just a few of the challenges I've curated, attempted and completed so far...
- The Bob Graham Round - 23hrs
- The Paddy Buckley Round - 23hrs 52 mins
- The Denis Rankin Round - 21hrs 5 mins
- The Big 4 - The Paddy Buckley, The Denis Rankin, The Charlie Ramsay, The Bob Graham - all within one week, non-stop.
- Raid Panama - 5 day world series adventure race
- Raid Galicia - 5 day world series adventure race
- Itera - 4 day world series adventure race
- Raid Aran - 4 day European series adventure race
- Bay Limestone Round (FKT at the time)
- Abrahams Tea Round (FKT at the time)
- Derwent Watershed FKT
- No Cure Always Hope Round
- Freeman Round
- The North Face Vert+ Winner
And you can help too, without even stepping foot in a hiking boot...
Ross will be doing all the legwork!
Introducing our 2023 challenge...
I am taking on an ultra distance challenge run in each of the 15 UK National Parks - that's more than 1 ultra run per month - with the biggest challenge being 300 km long.
This is a great opportunity to meet and connect with other enthusiasts and pros from all over the country, as many more people will be giving up their time to help me achieve the goal. This will allow me the chance to chat with more individuals and groups about why normalising being vocal about your mental health is so important.
Not only will I be going out in all conditions, on some really tough routes, but I will be attempting to get an FKT on as many of them as I can.
Support our next challenge...
There are various ways you can help in my quest for normalising the mental health struggles so many of us suffer with. You can make a donation (however big or small) to CALM through the link below, track my runs, share the page, or join my support team on one or more of my runs. Also if you want to help me personally in a more tangible way, please get in touch.
If mental hospitals had hiking trails, what would they be called?
Psychopaths.
FYI, humour is another way we manage our mental health round here. In case that wasn't clear! ;)
Contact Ross
ross_jenkin@hotmail.com
Kendal, Cumbria, UK
#RunwithRosco @rosco.run
Thanks for the support...
The kit required to achieve these challenges must be top notch to never let me down. Dynafit provides me with some of the best mountain and trail running clothing and equipment on the market.
Also providing equipment and nutrition are:
