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RNZ News
25-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Thirty marathons in 30 days: ‘One and done'
By Tracey Roxburgh of Michael Heyes, of Queenstown, celebrates after completing his 30th marathon in 30 days. Photo: ODT / Tracey Roxburgh One Queenstown man's marathon effort has come to an end, but he vows it was a "one and done". Michael Heyes, who turned 30 on Monday, decided to run a marathon for 30 consecutive days ahead of his milestone, simultaneously raising money for Australian mental health charity Black Dog Institute. His goal was to raise $30,000. To date he has raised more than $4000 via a fundraising link on his Instagram account, @mikeysmarathonsformental health. Originally from the United Kingdom, Heyes lived in Australia for about 20 years before moving to Queenstown about a year ago. There to see him cross the finish-line at Gantley's Tavern at noon on Sunday, were his proud parents Cathy and Kevin, who flew from Perth for the occasion. Heyes said he had spent up to seven hours running every day - though he was reduced to walking some days after injuring his right calf muscle - usually starting about 6am to fit his jaunts in between shifts at work. While his body had held up relatively well, Heyes joked his legs felt like they belonged to a 60 year old by the end of his last marathon. He was adamant when asked if he might contemplate another similar fundraising challenge. "Oh, God, no - this is one and done," he laughed. As to whether he might complete another marathon, the jury was still out. "I signed up for the London Marathon [next year] and I didn't get in, and I'm very happy about it. "I'll maybe run again - maybe not." This story was first published by the Otago Daily Times .
Otago Daily Times
24-06-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Thirty marathons in 30 days completed: ‘one and done'
Michael Heyes, of Queenstown, pictured after completing his 30th marathon in 30 days. PHOTO: TRACEY ROXBURGH One Queenstown man's marathon effort came to an end yesterday, but he vows it was a "one and done". Michael Heyes, who turned 30 on Monday, decided to run a marathon for 30 consecutive days ahead of his milestone, simultaneously raising money for Australian mental health charity Black Dog Institute. His goal was to raise $30k. To date he had raised more than $4000 via a fundraising link on his Instagram account, @mikeysmarathonsformental health. Originally from the United Kingdom, Mr Heyes lived in Australia for about 20 years before moving to Queenstown about a year ago. There to see him cross the finish-line at Gantley's Tavern at noon, were his proud parents Cathy and Kevin, who flew from Perth for the occasion. Mr Heyes said he had spent up to seven hours running every day — though was reduced to walking some days after injuring his right calf muscle — usually starting about 6am to fit his jaunts in between shifts at work. While his body had held up relatively well, Mr Heyes joked his legs felt like they belonged to a 60 year old by the end of his last marathon. He was adamant when asked if he might contemplate another similar fundraising challenge. "Oh, God, no — this is one and done," he laughed. As to whether he might complete another marathon, the jury was still out. "I signed up for the London Marathon [next year] and I didn't get in, and I'm very happy about it. "I'll maybe run again — maybe not."
Otago Daily Times
07-06-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
30 marathons in 30 days
Michael Heyes takes a breather during a marathon to pose for the camera. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Queenstown's Michael Heyes is adopting an unconventional countdown to his 30th birthday on June 23. Up until the 22nd, the former Brit is aiming to run a marathon a day for 30 days running as a mental health fundraiser — that's 1266km amidst some gnarly early winter weather. Heyes, who has lived in town for just over a year and is a manager at Margo's restaurant, says he has only run about five marathons before. Early this week he was chasing his tail a bit as he didn't finish day 9, vomiting at about the 19km mark, and was battling to make up for those lost kilometres. Earlier he'd told Instagram followers who think he'll quit, "if I was a betting man I'm putting my house on 30 marathons in 30 days". He says he starts his marathons along the Frankton Track then generally branches out towards either Arrowtown or Kelvin Heights — "I just change it up each day". Still working fulltime, he says most days start early in the morning so he's done by about noon — he takes about five to six hours, "a bit slower than usual, but just trying to get it done". "I'm just trying to eat as much as possible [for fuel] and have about 20 coffees a day." Early this week his legs were still holding up, "but the body's giving away a little bit". Heyes says he's chosen mental health as he's had his struggles — "I mean, like most people, I guess" — and, having lived in Australia for 20 years before moving here, he is raising money for Australia's Black Dog Institute. "I got into running, which kind of helped out, and then I decided to do this before I turned 30." He's set the ambitious goal of $30,000 just for consistency's sake — "30 marathons, 30 days, $30,000, turn 30". There's a fundraising link via his Instagram account, @mikeysmarathonsformentalhealth
News.com.au
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
‘Best jersey ever seen': NRL world loses it over unique Broncos look
The Brisbane Broncos have come under intense scrutiny throughout the 2025 season, that all changed on Saturday night. In front of a packed Suncorp Stadium, the players strolled out onto the turf wearing special black jerseys. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. The black jerseys along with black shorts and black socks are being worn to make a powerful statement for the club's dedicated Mental Health Round. The jersey was designed in collaboration with Broncos Charity Partner, Black Dog Institute, with the club to make a major donation from the proceeds of the jersey to the organisation. Additionally the club announced that proceeds from the 50-50 Charity Raffle at Saturday's game will go towards Black Dog Institute. When the jersey was first announced fans flocked to get their hands on one and if the reaction to the look on Saturday night is anything to go by, the club's website will be getting a workout in the coming days. Fans far and wide who tuned in to watch the contest were all blown away by the look with many dubbing the jersey the best jumper ever seen in NRL history. One wrote on X: 'Just f*** off ... how can my most hated team, have the best looking jersey in the history of rugby league.' A second added: 'These Broncos jerseys are the best NRL jerseys I've ever seen.' A third wrote: 'This Broncos kit is unreal.' A fourth posted: 'Damn this Broncos kit is hot.' Many fans believed they were about to watch the All Blacks take on the Titans and in the opening half it looked like the prime All Blacks were on the park. Reece Walsh returned for his first game and provided an instant highlight with a long cut-out pass to put Gehamat Shibasaki over inside the opening two minutes. Corey Jensen then joined in the party in the 10th minute before Kotoni Staggs put his name on the list in the 17th minute. Shibasaki then doubled down before Josiah Karapani added more misery for the Titans as the Broncos stormed away to hold a 28-0 lead at halftime. 'This is an avalanche,' Dan Ginnane said on Fox League.
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Hey Siri, Am I Okay? : AI tools are being trained to detect suicidal signals.
Live Events Suicidal risk identification on SNS: The prompts fed to AI do not remain confined to tasks related to needing help in everyday activities, such as asking Alexa to play the family's favourite song, asking Siri on a random Tuesday to set a reminder, or asking Google Assistant to search the song based on humming. But what if users, in an especially low moment, were to ask, 'Am I okay?' Or maybe other such prompts that insinuate the user's want to harm themselves, whether through means of self-harm or and suicide attempts remain alarmingly prevalent, requiring more effective strategies to identify and support individuals at high risk. Current methods of suicide risk assessment largely rely on direct questioning, which can be limited by subjectivity and inconsistent interpretation. Simply put, their accuracy and predictive value remain limited, regardless of the large variety of scales that can be used to assess the risk; predictability remains unimproved over the past 50 intelligence and machine learning offer new ways to improve risk detection, but their accuracy depends heavily on access to large datasets that can help identify patient profiles and key risk factors. As outlined in a clinical review, AI tools can help identify patterns in the dataset, generate risk algorithms, and determine the effect of risk and protective factors on suicide. The use of AI reassures healthcare professionals with an improved accuracy rate, especially when combined with their skills and expertise, even when diagnostic accuracy could never reach 100%.According to Burke et al. , there are three main goals of machine learning studies in suicide: the first is improving the accuracy of risk prediction, the second is identifying important predictors and the interaction between them, and the last one is to model subgroups of patients. At an individual level, AI could allow for better identification of individuals in crisis and appropriate intervention, while at a population level, the algorithm could find groups at risk and individuals at risk of suicide attempts within these groups. Social media platforms have become both the cause and solution for the mental health crisis. While they are often criticized for contributing to the mental health crisis, these platforms also provide a rich source of real-time data to AI, enabling it to identify individuals portraying signs of suicidal intent. This is achieved by analyzing users' posts, comments, and behavioral patterns, allowing AI tools to detect linguistic cues, such as expressions of hopelessness or other emotional signals that may indicate psychological distress. For instance, Meta employs AI algorithms to scan user content and identify signs of distress, allowing the company to reach out and offer support or even connect users with crisis helplines. Studies such as those by the Black Dog Institute also demonstrate how AI's natural language processing can flag at-risk individuals earlier than traditional methods, enabling timely are also companies such as Samurai Labs and Sentinet that have developed AI-driven systems that monitor social media content and flag posts that insinuate suicidal ideation. For example, Samurai Labs 'One Life' project scans online conversations to detect signs that indicate high suicide risk. Upon detecting these indicators, the platform then leads the user to support resources or emergency assistance. In the same manner, Sentient's algorithms analyze thousands of posts on a daily basis, triggering alerts when users express some form of emotional distress, allowing for timely AI isn't a replacement for human empathy or professional mental health care, it offers a promising advancement in suicide prevention. By identifying warning signs at a much faster and more precise rate than human diagnosis and enabling early interventions, AI tools can serve as valuable allies in this fight against suicide.
