Houseless - but running with Soul
(A good news story of the homeless of Byron Bay running the Gold Coast half marathon, Written by Gary Leckie)
“So how long have you been homeless Ben?”
“Well I don’t really like to refer to it as homeless because home is where your heart is. It is more that we are sleeping rough!”
And there is a nice little introduction for me stepping out of my parallel (middle income) universe and into the quagmire of homelessness for our nation.
Mat Broster comes across as a typical guy - tall, dark and handsome. Plays football for the local club, likes to have a laugh. But get closer to Mat and you soon realise you could power a small country town off the energy being emitted from that scone. There is so much going on in there. That’s good in some circumstances when channelled, but crushing when things get overwhelming. Matt knows about homelessness, mental health, crushing anxiety, challenges……
He is a service user at Fletcher Street Cottage - Byron Bay. And here is lesson two - Whilst the guys sleeping rough would genuinely love a safe place to live - first things first - just having a drop-in centre where you can have a shower, do your laundry, arrange for a medical/dental checkup, get a square meal and a cup of tea, etc is a great start and that is what Fletcher Street Cottage offers (obvious now really). A fantastic service and space for those in our community facing more challenges than most.
People like “Chris” whose dad abandoned him at six and grew up with alcohol abuse and who himself has a battle with alcohol. Or Izzy, a Maori from New Zealand, who, when I asked what life was like growing up, asked me if I ever watched the movie “Once were Warriors………”. Or Chico who had a heroin overdose and had to be revived twice and now addresses life through the prism of brain damage. There is no sugar coating the challenges faced and the confronting nature of connection at times.
However, there is Mark who knits beautiful beanies for all around and Marcus who never misses a sunrise on Byron main beach, waiting in the dark until he can take a photo of each with the ever changing colours - as if to provide hope for all of the new day.
Vision
Fletcher Street Cottage receives no government funding and Mat had a vision to get service users “Off the Street and on our Feet” and compete in the Gold Coast half marathon. This could raise money for Fletcher Street Cottage and help address the stigma associated with homelessness. They actually are people with determination and soul.
Fortunately for Mat one of the volunteers at Fletcher Street Cottage, Sorrell, is a member of the Byron Bay Runners club and she, along with the club president Caz, hatched a plan to help Mat fulfil his vision.
With only 10 weeks until the event a training plan was needed quickly - Caz - any spare time???
A few club members committed to weekday morning runs with Mat and the FSC guys.
Initially an anxious Mat would wonder if anyone would share in his vision and attend the training runs. You soon realise that Mat’s task was like herding cats! Ringing rough sleepers, picking them up from tents in the dark, were they on a bender?, etc. The FSC guys came on the training runs and learnt tips about running and being able to hit 21kms.
When the run finished it was my turn to learn over a cup of tea at FSC! Naive - I saw broken people, I saw neglect of health, I heard expletive-laiden shouting matches, I felt tension. But then, as you learn, I heard stories, I had hugs (lots of man hugs), I saw their souls. It wasn’t always pretty but it was real.
The days and weeks went by and I contrasted ‘trailrunner-speak’ of shoes, heart rate, vo2max, cadence, min/km with ‘FSC speak’ of number of days without alcohol, past trauma and where will I get my next durrie from. Mat kept toiling, kept consistent, raised money, organised t-shirts, sorted media exposure, and gradually, methodically built momentum.
The race day arrives and Matt has raised over $11,000 for FSC.
The whole FSC crew numbers over 21 with runners, support workers and volunteers. The dark early morning drive from Byron opens to the light and a decent level of chaos at the race start. There are just so many people! But there is a committed bunch of runners with the FSC “Off the Street on our Feet” singlets / t-shirts on. They stood out and in those few crazy first kilometres I settled into a rhythm with the highly determined Chico. Just a year or two ago Chico had been down on the mat waiting to be counted out… but not today! He was on his feet, the headphones were on, a fixed stare suggested that he was the business today! Inspirational moments for us all and in the end nine FSC guys finished the half marathon - some very fast and some ensuring that no-one was left behind at the back! A few little anecdotes from the day provide a sense of the occasion:
Chico - I had been in Chico’s ear the whole race geeing him up. At the 17km I started saying something about grinding it out and Chico pipes up “F#$@ing shut up I’m trying to focus!”....at that point I knew he was going to finish.
Mat & Deek - after crossing the finish line I see Mat and who is he talking to …. Australian marathon legend Rob de Castella. Deek was pointing out Mat’s blood stained singlet and providing advice about wearing bandaids. Did that ever happen to you Deek? “Only once.”
Sammy - I ran with Sammy a little bit out on the road and his knee was getting very sore. I saw him after he crossed the finish line and asked how he was - “Pretty good - halfway through the run some bloke gave me two beers and a smoke and I picked up after that”
Izzy - had been born with club feet and has had operations on his legs. He had never walked/run more than four kilometres before in his life. He crossed the finish line arm in arm with Tonia. The two of them had solved a few world problems out on the road, ensured no-one got left behind and now were ready to collect their t-shirt!
All involved were relieved, proud, inspired!
The last word goes to Izzy as everyone was leaving “You’ll still come and have a cup of tea with us at FSC?”
