Narrandera athlete Rachael Hyde ticked off a 10-year work-in-progress goal with Run The World (Run Down Under).

She joined this group 10 years ago in 2016 and every run that she did synced to the app, which tracked her progress around Australia. She has now made it all the way around – 14,080kms.

Running for Rachael means many things, most importantly for her mental well-being, her physical well-being and the friendships she has made along the way.

“I run in the good times and the bad, when I’m happy or sad, celebrating or stressed, calm or upset, injured at times and full of energy other times. In the heat, the rain, the wind, the freezing cold, late at night, or 4am starts,” she said.

“Some days it’s easy, other days it’s hard, but one thing you never regret is getting it done. I train for events, and I run just for the fun of it.”

Her first marathon was in 2017, when she was coached by the energetic former Narrandera athlete Gerry Daly, whom she said taught her so much.

Over the years, she has run with many different people, all with a different story to tell, and they come and go as times change.

But her constant running buddy over the past nine years has been Keet Bamblett over many thousands of kilometres, a couple of Ultramarathons and 10 marathons thrown in amongst it all.

“Tanza Paterson is my inspiration, always there for us, encouraging and pushing us to do our best. With buddies like mine, I’m excited for the next 10 years-plus of running adventures,” she said.