General News
27 October, 2025
Horsham pair running to support the homeless
Emma Hopper and Cass Roberts are currently running over ten kilometres every day for ten days to help raise money for homelessness as part of Nedd Brockmann’s Uncomfortable Challenge.
Emma Hopper and Cass Roberts are currently running over ten kilometres every day for ten days to help raise money for homelessness as part of Nedd Brockmann’s Uncomfortable Challenge.
Originating from Brockmann’s own multi-day ultramarathon feats to raise money and awareness for homelessness, including running across Australia in 47 days, the challenge involves individuals or groups completing a difficult challenge every day between October 20-29.
Donations raised from the Uncomfortable Challenge go towards We Are Mobilise, a charity supporting people facing homelessness.
Hopper said they were inspired to participate after learning more about Brockmann and the inspiration behind his renowned running accomplishments.
“We both read Ned Brockmann’s book and his Netflix documentary, and following his journey, we think he’s pretty inspiring and doing great things,” Hopper said.
“So we wanted to get on board and be comfortable being uncomfortable, like he says.”
Roberts voiced admiration for Brockmann and his work with people struggling with homelessness, which she has previously experienced.
“I, myself, have experienced homelessness when I was much younger,” Roberts said.
“Watching his documentary, ‘Runn’, Nedd’s a very inspiring person.
“He shows that your mind will give up before your body does.
“I also think his ability to push judgement aside and sit with people living rough, getting to know their story rather than seeing them as another person sitting on the streets, I really admire.”
Among the different types of challenges being undertaken by participants, Hopper set herself to run 15km each day, while Roberts set herself 10km, with both completing the runs early each morning.
“Some people are doing things such as no caffeine for 10 days, or no social media, or actually sleeping rough for 10 days or various exercise challenges,” Hopper said.
“We made the challenge to get up and run in the early mornings out in the dark, and getting the kilometres done.”
Adding to the already uncomfortable challenge was running through Sunday morning’s thunderstorm.
“There was so much lightning and so much thunder, but it was fun,” Roberts said.
“We've had two really rainy mornings that we've gotten up, and of course, it's easy for us to stay in bed, but people living rough don't actually get a choice in that, so we were committed and just got up and did it.”
Along with the large kilometres run being sore on the body, Roberts admits it has been a mental challenge.
“I've found it an emotional journey as well,” Roberts said.
“I think there have been times where I don't want to do it anymore, I feel really emotional, but I get up and do it again, because watching Nedd and knowing that the pain that he was in when he was doing his run, I've got no reason to be sooking.”
Originally aiming to raise $1,000 each, the pair has raised a combined $3,700 with just over two days remaining in the challenge.
“Our target was $1000 each, and we're sitting on a combined $3700 at the moment,” Hopper said.
“$1,000 gets someone into accommodation for a month, so if we can get four months of accommodation for someone off the street, that’s great.”
If you would like to donate to either before the challenge ends on Wednesday, please click the links for Emma or for Cass.