On March 3, 2025, Echuca’s Ben Welch will throw on his Moama Bowling Club cap, don his Puma running gear, lace up his sneakers and hit the road to run an astonishing total of 380km from Mildura to Echuca in just four days, four hours and 44 minutes (#444).
The run is in honour of his much-loved brothers — Jai, who lost his life in a ski accident at Mildura on March 7, 2015 and Zac, who died from suicide in 2022 — 444 was Zac’s lucky number.
The run will see Ben cover 85km each day for the first four, culminating on the fifth day with a 42km marathon.
Ben is hoping the interest generated by his run will help create conversations around mental health, while raising much-needed funds for Headspace in Echuca, Swan Hill and Mildura.
“I want to help as many kids as possible, which is why I decided to raise money for Headspace,” he said.
“Zac’s death solidified to me the importance of early intervention, and if young people can get help and address mental health issues before they get too big, than this #444 run will be well worth it.”
Ben is determined to honour his brothers in his own special way, and he has been blown away by the support and sponsorship he has received to date.
Initially Ben hoped to raise $150,000 ($50,000 for each Headspace) but with the current tally sitting around $120,000, he is hoping he might be able to raise even more than his initial target.
“To be honest, I have been surprised by all the support, but my wife, Jayde, close friends and Mum and Dad have all helped to get some great sponsors on board. It has definitely been a team effort,” he said.
Ben said the fundraising tally had been extremely motivating and had made the job of getting out of bed to train at 4am every day, just that little bit easier.
Consistently logging around 60 to 70km a week, Ben is building up the kilometres as the weeks go buy.
He is hoping to tick off a few bigger runs over the next few months in preparation.
Daughter Frankie has even committed to running run a few kilometres with her dad, while his mum, Jackie (an accomplished long distance runner herself), will run the final day with Ben.
Ben said once he put the run idea out into the public sphere and on social media, he started to receive a lot of private messages from people expressing their own personal experiences with suicide.
“These are people I have never met before and some of them are talking for the very first time about how suicide has impacted them,” he said.
“Sadly many families are ashamed and don’t speak about it but it should be spoken about, and there is absolutely nothing more important than protecting your mental health.”
In some ways, this run has been a decade in the making.
“The year Jai died, I had planned on doing a marathon straight after the end of the footy season (the brothers were going to play that season together) but I blew out my ankle and didn’t get it fixed straight away.”
He eventually ended up with an ankle reconstruction and in 2022, after blowing out his ankle again, and another reconstruction, he finally found he could run again.
“There is always some discomfort but it’s nothing I can’t handle,” he said.
While the #444 run will honour both brothers, Ben is also optimistic it will offer hope to those suffering from mental health issues.
To keep up to date with what is happening with the run you can follow Ben on Instagram @the_444_run. Donations can be made by scanning the QR code.
There are fundraising events planned over the duration of the run, with an event kicking off on day one at the football oval near the Riverside Caravan Park at Robinvale.
For crisis support or if you know someone who is struggling, phone Lifeline on 131 114 or visit lifeline.org.au; Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 or beyondblue.org.au; Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800, or kidshelpline.com.au; or headspace on 1800 650 890 or headspace.org.au; or 13YARN on 139 276.