Kirrily ran 1300km from Broken Hill to Sydney to help end family violence. Now anyone can join her virtually.

Kirrily Dear was listening to a podcast about family violence when she heard the figure. In a single year, police across Australia recorded almost 98,000 family and domestic violence offenders, the biggest jump on record. She couldn’t file it away and move on, so in 2017, she ran 1,300 kilometres from Broken Hill to Sydney to raise awareness.

The journey took over 19 days, running alone across some of the most remote country in New South Wales, passing through more than 25 towns on the way to the coast. The route was a reminder that family violence reaches every kind of place and every kind of family.

It wasn’t her first big run for the cause. In 2014 she covered 860 kilometres across western New South Wales. But it was the run to Sydney that got people’s attention. Runners started joining her along the way, and that idea, covering the distance together, grew into the Broken Hill to Sydney Team Chase.

Kirrily’s aim is that no one runs alone.

Every year, thousands of Australians cover that same 1,300 kilometres together as part of the Team Chase, a virtual event run by Run Against Violence.

You build a team of up to 20 people and log your kilometres over 19 days, watching your progress crawl along a digital map from Broken Hill to the coast. You can run wherever you are in the world. Before work, after dinner, at Saturday parkrun, on the treadmill when it’s pouring outside. Every kilometre nudges your team a little further down the map, and that map is the part people get attached to.

The best part is what happens off it. Group chats fill up with encouragement and friendly competition over who’s logged the most. Teams sort out early coffee runs and weekend catch ups, and workmates suddenly have a reason to get outside together. Plenty of people sign up to move a little more and end up staying for the company.

Run Against Violence was built on a belief that preventing family violence starts long before a crisis.

It starts at home, at work, in sporting clubs and schools, in the everyday conversations that shape how we treat each other.

Every dollar raised through the Team Chase goes towards that. Over the past six years, more than $565,000 has gone into Love Bites, a respectful relationships program taught in Australian high schools that has trained more than a thousand facilitators around the country. The kilometres have stacked up too. Between them, participants have covered more than 1.7 million kilometres, or roughly 42 laps of the planet.

You don’t need to be fast, and you don’t need a team ready to go. Sign up on your own and they’ll match you with one. Whether you’re chasing a marathon, easing back into running after a break, or just want a reason to get out the door this spring, it’s an easy one to say yes to.

Every kilometre you were already going to run can be part of something bigger.

The 2026 Broken Hill to Sydney Team Chase runs from the 30th of August to the 17th of September.

Join a team, start your own, or read more here: Broken Hill to Sydney Team Chase

Broken Hill To Sydney Team Chase

30th August 2026

Broken Hill 2880, NSW

Beginner friendly and Social and Relaxed

Written by Madi Hurley

10 articles • Since 2026