Protecting Aussie kids, seven marathons at a time!

Posted on 26 June, 2025

Content warning: child sexual abuse

Canberra local legend Jess Peil is taking on not one, but seven successive marathons to combat child sexual abuse in Australia. And as she prepares to lace up her runners for another year, Canberrans can prepare to support her at the Canberra leg at Bowen Park on Saturday 5 July.

In 2024, the Australian Child Maltreatment Survey found that 28.5 per cent of Australians experienced child sexual abuse (CSA) – that’s over one in every four people. Since its launch in 2013, the Bravehearts 777 Marathon has raised over $2 million for the prevention and treatment of child sexual abuse, annually hosting seven marathons, in seven states and territories, over seven consecutive days – and Canberra local Jess Peil is running all of them for, momentously, the seventh year in a row. She flies out to the first location in Perth for a Monday 28 June start.

What first appealed to Jess about the Marathon was the challenge – “You know, the ‘can I run that distance every day for seven days?’” – but she quickly discovered a passion for the foundation and its cause.

“I could see the mission, I could see what they wanted to achieve,” she says.

“It’s really such an important cause…to kick off and have Australia’s children as protected and safe as they can be.”

Jess is a firm believer in the importance of breaking down the social taboos which keep victim-survivors silent. The 777 Marathon brings conversations about CSA into the mainstream – and this is what makes awareness so valuable. It catalyses a much-needed process of social change, foregrounding the voices of children and victim-survivors and removing the shame which can surround this sort of discourse. Jess advocates the importance of children being heard and seen: unexplained changes in behaviour are too often dismissed and overlooked.

“We’ve all heard it: they’re hanging out with the wrong crowd, that kid’s just being naughty…all the behavioural issues come out, but where’s that behaviour coming from?”

Jess believes protecting our kids can be as simple as observation: a parent, family member, neighbour, or teacher taking a moment to say, “‘Hang on…[this] child has really changed,’ or, you know, seeing little…body language things or behavioural issues within people in their circle.”

Jess hopes that initiatives like the 777 Marathon not only encourage people to protect vulnerable children by normalising important conversations, but also show victim-survivors that they are not alone, and that there are support systems available to them.

Across the past seven years, Jess has cumulatively raised around $400,000 for Bravehearts through the 777 Marathon – $135,000 in 2024 alone.

“People are amazing with their generosity…it’s really, really cool,” she says.

Each year, Jess holds a clothing sale using donations, things people would otherwise take to Vinnies, which they bring to her first. She says she sorts through the clothes to make sure they’re all in good condition, then puts up a big sale from her house. Whatever’s left over, she keeps for the following year or takes to her local Vinnies. Sometimes, she upcycles damaged clothes – jeans with rips, for example – into handmade products to sell.

“I’m here for the children, and I’m here for the environment.”

Jess has just passed $61,000 out of her ambitious fundraising goal of $200,000 for 2025.

Canberrans who would like to support Jess and the mission of Bravehearts can attend the Canberra leg of the Marathon on Saturday 5 July at Bowen Park on the Kingston Foreshore, where you can dress up in superhero theme and cheer on Jess and the other runners. And if you’d like to run, you don’t have to do a full marathon – runners have a choice between 7km, 14km, 21.1km, and 42.2km.

“Just dig in and share your community spirit and make a difference out there… Whatever you want to do, or just stand there and cheer us on, would be amazing.”

If you would like to contribute to Jess’s fundraising, you can do so through her fundraising page on the Bravehearts website.

“Any little bit helps because…everything goes towards an amazing cause, and we love that support.”