Lee Murray is looking to set a world record while raising awareness for an important cause. Photos: Supplied.
CONTENT WARNING: This story refers to suicide.
An Illawarra boxing trainer and AFL club president will cop tens of thousands of punches for 36 hours straight as he tries to break a world record and break down stigma around mental health.
In the sporting community and his everyday life, Lee Murray has seen too many people impacted by mental illness and suicide.
“Through the boxing and football club, we’ve got a lot of players and members past and present who have had to ride through suicide and the deaths of family, relative and friends,” Lee said.
“I do have a couple of really close friends and people I see on the daily that have been affected by suicide and they probably are some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met.”
He’s an advocate for speaking out and has created safe environments for people to open up within the sporting clubs he’s involved in.
But despite his efforts, and the efforts of others, to change the perception around mental health, it’s clear things still aren’t where they need to be, with suicide the leading cause of death in Australians aged 15 to 44 years, and nine people losing their life every day.
Three quarters of those who die from suicide are men.
“The stats speak for themselves,” Lee said. “That ‘she’ll be right, we’ll keep moving through and get through this’ doesn’t seem to be working and whatever we as men, or we as a society, are thinking, doesn’t seem to be working.
“How can we make it acceptable? How can we take the stigma away from reaching out or talking and seeking help when you’re not OK? It’s definitely not a sign of weakness and you don’t have to just put your head down and just soldier on, you don’t have to just take it, there’s ways and means to help with that.”
Now his attempt to shine a light on the issue is going global, with Lee attempting a world record to raise awareness and funds for local mental health not-for-profit, Talk2MeBro.
“It is such a big issue and a big problem and I don’t think a small anything would shed the light or grab the attention,” Lee said.
“Basically I’m holding boxing pads, people are punching them. The current record sits at 500 rounds, which is roughly about 36 hours of hitting to get close to breaking the record.
“It’ll be up in the 50 thousand punch range – I would love to chase 65,000 punches which ties into the 65,000 attempts of suicide each year.”
The record is no easy feat and is set to test his physical and mental threshold.
“Sore feet, blown up feet, sore ankles, sore hips – obviously you’re catching punches so it’ll get a lot of wrist and elbow and shoulder things so it’s just trying to negate that and not be shocked when that comes along, and the incidental blisters and dehydration and things like that,” Lee said.
“It’s a long time to be trapped in your own head so the more new faces you see and the more people dropping by to lend support goes a long way to breaking up the monotony of what it’s going to be.”
But he has a strong team rallying behind him, with the cause connecting with many within the community and more than 100 people already signing up to help keep the punches coming.
“The support from the community and the sporting community has been sensational,” Lee said.
“In football, what you might consider rival clubs or rival players have all reached out and offered to help and forwarded on stories and all this sort of things.
“Just the mere fact that we’ve got 100 volunteers and people working on this for weeks to have it in order with the Guinness World Record criteria, the support is astronomical and it probably speaks volumes around mental health and around suicide that people see it as an issue and want to help in any way shape or form.”
The record attempt runs from 7 am on Saturday 9 November to around 7 pm on Sunday 10 November at Wollongong’s Title Shot Boxing Gym with supporters able to drop in any time and the whole event to be livestreamed.
“It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be that mental battle; spiritually, physically it’s going to be painful,” Lee said.
“When times are tough I’ll think what it’s about and who it’s for and just keep soldiering on.
“I just want to let people know I’m there, I’m there for them, I’m in their corner; I can’t possibly understand what these guys are going through but I’m here and this is for them.
The community can support the cause through the event’s GoFundMe page and keep track of the record through the livestream.
To learn more about Talk2MeBro visit its website.
If this story has raised any issues for you, you can call Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis support line on 13 11 14.
