Bailee Hoera, who ran in gumboots from Marton to Paraparaumu last year, will run from Marton to New Plymouth on November 7.
Bailee Hoera, who ran in gumboots from Marton to Paraparaumu last year, will run from Marton to New Plymouth on November 7.
A Marton resident will sport her neon pink gumboots when she runs to New Plymouth for Gumboot Friday and her 14-year-old self to raise awareness for mental health.
Gumboot Friday is an initiative by mental health charity I Am Hope that provides under-25s with free counselling services.
Bailee Hoera, 27,will begin her journey from her house in Marton to New Plymouth about 2am on November 7.
Hoera is a duty manager at Feilding’s Focal Point Cinema and runs a non-profit cat rescue in Marton called Let’s Purrtect Rescue.
She started her running for mental health journey in 2022 by taking part in a Dannevirke-based Gumboot Friday initiative, which involved running in teams.
“I’m pumped, I’m very excited. I always look forward to this part of the year,” she said.
”There are certain parts that I’m dreading but, honestly, I can’t dread it because I’m too excited - what an honour to move my body for this.
“I like to think of myself as a performance athlete. I train vigorously for one event every year and my one event is always Gumboot Friday.”
Her training has consisted of multiple half-marathons a week, two of which were in her gumboots, field training conditioning and running to Whanganui twice a week.
In 2024, Hoera ran 116km from Marton to Paraparaumu in gumboots for Gumboot Friday.
She will be sporting the neon pink gumboots she has had since the start of her journey.
She said the gumboots held an important significance.
“Mental health is often described like you’re chugging through deep, thick mud in gumboots; it’s exhausting and you are unable to fully function when that is happening.
“A lot of people ask me if I ever take my gumboots off. Absolutely not. You can’t pause depression, you can’t put a mute button on mental health.”
Her running journey had been liberating and quickly became something she was passionate about.
“Running has really helped me; fitness is something that really healed me. I feel very lucky to have found something that has kept me stable and on the right path,” Hoera said.
“I’m able to help other people by doing something that I genuinely love. I’m not going to put 50% of myself into this, I am fully sending it because I’m so passionate about it.”
“Keep going, it’s so cliche but you are literally not alone even though you feel like you are,” she said.
“If it gets to just one person ... On Friday the 7th, if they are driving into work on a bad day, I just want them to see me and know they are not alone.”
Support Hoera on her journey by donating to her Givealittle page “Boot’n it 200km to the Naki”.
Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
