Mal Law's big, hairy, audacious adventure for mental health

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 31 January 2014

The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) was honoured today to host the launch of the Partner’s Life High Five-0 Challenge for Mental Health.

A year from today, adventurer extraordinaire Mal Law will embark on his most audacious challenge yet. In just 50 days, he plans to climb 50 mountain peaks, and run 50 off-road marathons – that’s the equivalent of running past the ionosphere, out of the earth’s atmosphere, and into space.

It’s a journey that will take him through some of the country’s toughest – and most beautiful – landscapes, and he’s doing it all to raise money for the MHF.

“Mal’s going to be undertaking a true odyssey for us,” says MHF chief executive Judi Clements, “because he has a real empathy with our cause.

“The Mental Health Foundation has an ambitious vision – of a society where all people flourish,” says Ms Clements, “and Mal’s challenge matches this ambition. He’s setting out to do something extraordinary, and he’ll have a measurable impact on the lives of thousands of ordinary Kiwis.”

By the time he’s completed the High Five-0, Mal hopes to have raised a staggering $250,000 for the MHF.

The Mental Health Foundation is very happy that Partners Life has come on board as the principal sponsor of the High Five-0. In common with the MHF, Partners Life shares a passion for the wellbeing of New Zealanders, and their support of the High Five-0 Challenge has been invaluable.

As it’s now exactly one year until Mal sets off on the High Five-0, today he and many of his supporters are running up and down Mt Eden 50 times. Members of the Air Force are running alongside him, and many others have come along to do a lap or two.

“Mal truly embodies the value of practising the Five Ways to Wellbeing,” says Ms Clements, “his passion for mental health and his drive to help us succeed are so deeply appreciated by us all.”

The High Five-0 is an unprecedented feat of endurance, and the MHF hopes all New Zealanders will throw their support behind Mal and his team as they work toward their goal.

For more information on the Partners Life High Five-0 Challenge for Mental Health, see the website.

Click here to donate and support Mal’s efforts.

ENDS

Note to media: Mal will be running up Mt Eden until around 7:30 this evening, and is available to speak to media during his run.

The Five Ways to Wellbeing are Give, Be Active, Take Notice, Connect, and Keep Learning.

For further information or comment, contact:

Sophia Graham
Senior Communications Officer
Landline: 09 623 4810
Mobile: 021 740 454
Sophia@mentalhealth.org.nz

More information on the High Five-0:

This is going to be tough. Very tough. It’s going to hurt. A lot! But if you need any further convincing then consider these facts:

• Climbing to the observation deck of Auckland’s Sky Tower involves an ascent of 190m. Over the 50 days of the Challenge Mal will be climbing more than 101,000m – that’s equivalent to: 530 ascents of the Sky Tower; or 27 Mt. Cooks; or almost 12 Everests!
• Many of the Peaks are remote, rough and very high – half of them stand at over 1,500m and 7 exceed 2,000m
• Running on backcountry trails is not like running a road marathon. Because of the nature of the terrain the average day is likely to take 10 hours to complete.

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