Let's meet Dan!
Meet the R4R Runners #81
Welcome to the 81st edition of the Meet the R4R Runners, where we get to meet Dan. A regular and R4R stalwart, Dan … is the man! He’s always great to have a yarn with and he’s another example of someone from our community trying to improve the world around them. We’ll hear more about that soon. - For now, without further ado, let’s meet Dan
What is your name?
Dan Fussell
Where are you from?
I'm from Armidale NSW, but I have floated in and out of Canberra since 2014 and have been back here permanently since 2019.
What's your favourite thing about Canberra?
I think it is the access to the outdoors and the community here. It supports my hobbies with friends nicely, either locally on the bush trails and Mount Stromlo or just a short drive away; rock climbing, skiing down south or heading east to the coast for surfing and fishing.
How did you hear about R4R and when did you first attend?
I was living on the foreshore at the time and I think I saw a facebook post from the Dock. I can't remember the exact time but it was pre-covid and back when Benny A put on a few pizzas after the run, understandably that is not viable anymore with the amazing turnout it gets. I thought a 6km run, beer and pizza on a Wednesday night seemed like a pretty good idea. I learnt more about the cause though and just kept coming, I love it.
You've been a massive part of the R4R community, regularly attending the Wednesday and Friday runs. What's your favourite thing about R4R?
For me personally, I really value having non-negotiable things as part of my routine. R4R has been one of those things that breaks up my week and I really look forward to. The other part is it just provides a regular check in with a good group of people that works both ways. Everyone has ups and downs, those that you see regularly and see you are more likely to notice those changes.
Some people might recognise you from last year, when you spoke about a Memorial Day for your Brother, did you want to share a bit about what you're doing and why you're doing it?
Yeah absolutely, The Royal Military College – Duntroon will host The Michael Fussell Memorial Charity Day on the 14th of October 2023. The day will involve a series of sporting matches to be contested between the Armidale Blues Rugby and Netball Club (Armidale Blues) and RMC-D.
The day is an opportunity to merge two major aspects of Mike’s life, growing up in Armidale and his Military career. The Armidale Blues and RMC-D represent more than just two rugby teams Mike was honoured to be a part of, they represent communities that gave and meant so much to him. It is by bringing these communities together on common ground to play the game he loved that we pay a fitting tribute to Mike’s life, service and sacrifice.
It is intended to be a significant fundraising event with all proceeds going to Soldier On Australia and the RSL and an opportunity for the Canberra community to demonstrate how they honour and support veterans. The day is intended to celebrate communities, Mike’s life and help veterans in need.
Key event details, timings and tickets are available below:
Losing a loved one is hard in any respect, and losing your brother the way you did would have had its own unique pain. Is there anything you remember about that time and is there anything you wish you could have told yourself looking back?
I don't think there is anything I could have told myself that I would have listened to. I say that because everything I can think of, I am pretty sure someone said to me. I'm also not sure there is ever something good to say in those situations, it hasn't even made me better at it with other people. What I did appreciate is a mate joining me from time to time to do something together. It didn't have to involve a big conversation, what that did was normalised my world and created space to talk if that's what I happened to need at that point, without forcing it.
I think I was just pretty focused on dealing with it in my own way. What I needed changed rapidly, from space, to support, to talk, then not to talk. I would be intensely focussed on achieving a goal and then other times I would just want to go fishing. I like to think what I have done well in terms of what worked for me is listening to myself and what I need whilst grounding myself in the basics of eating, exercising and sleeping well to create the foundation to deal with whatever else comes up. That was the best I could come up with, it still takes work but seems to be working pretty well.
As always, what does resilience mean to you?
I probably just alluded to it a bit. I think for me it is building a foundation that allows you to absorb the curve ball or bounce back from adversity.
And before we sign off, we're hoping to get a handful of R4R community members to volunteer at the Michael Fussell Memorial day. For those interested, how can they get involved?
That would be amazing, anyone that is keen to volunteer, I am just after 4 - 6 volunteers to help out on the day. If they just want to reach out to me on email at danfussell7@gmail.com we can sort out the details.
Thanks, Dan. Great work and great answers!
With 9 days left before the Gala, we will stop selling tickets soon! If you haven’t got your hands on any, please do so now! And another reminder, individual ticket purchases are encouraged because there will definitely be familiar faces!
