Legend has it way back in 2017 a group of blokes decided to meet on Thursday evenings to run laps of Snake Hill – the twisting serpentine track in Manly’s east that leads to and from Collins Beach. The exercise itself was great fitness, but something these men quickly realised was that the good vibes of these Thursday catch ups carried over into Friday and the weekend, giving them an undeniable boost of positivity, transforming their lives for the better.
By 2019 the group had grown, the Thursday Snake Hill ritual enticing more participants than ever, and it was decided to give the club a proper name. With Snake Hill as the geographical and spiritual home of the whole shebang, it didn’t take long for the “Vipers” name to become the men’s group’s moniker.
Ravi Rudner explains, “Essentially, the Vipers is a group of men who get together regularly to run, but with the greater purpose of becoming better blokes, learning to support each other better, to communicate better. We really try and drive the conversation around the core aim of ‘being a good bloke.’”
The Vipers home now rotates each week between Manly Oval aka Viper Oval, and the sacred Snake Hill, which remains pivotal, aptly renamed Viper Hill. Regardless the location, there are two key pillars upon which the club is based. One is running. The other is personal development.
Corey Allen says, “A core tenet of Vipers RC is to be a mental health club for men with a running problem. There are a lot of running clubs out there where you meet up, run, and that’s awesome for fitness, but it’s not about connection. Vipers is about running for connection more so than running for fitness.”
This focus on personal development is exemplified by The Viper Academy, which centres on Ravi putting out a short video on Tuesdays to provide a theme around which the Thursday run will be focused. “An example that really stands out to me of what the Viper Academy is all about is when I got everyone to carry eggs around during the session,” Ravi explains. “This of course seems very silly, it is, but as we were all running and carrying eggs, passing them to each other, each egg was designed to symbolise anyone in the community who’s going through a fragile time, that we’re all here to support them through that period, to help carry the load when anyone needs it.”
Ravi’s not ashamed to admit, “We did lose some good eggs that day but, bigger picture, men, on the whole, we find it difficult to share our troubles. It’s very hard to ask for help. Learning to reach out and ask for help, that’s easy to do when it’s just a game, but hopefully it sets a pathway for when it is necessary in our lives to ask for help, to share how we really feel. It can make all the difference.”
Corey can attest to how beneficial the group has been for his wellbeing. “Coming out of the 2019 firefighting season, I found I’d been quite impacted mentally by those experiences, and that I really didn’t have a network or anyone to talk through those things with. Discovering the Vipers, running, this has basically been therapy for me, and become such an important and valued part of my life.”
Learn more about Vipers RC at www.vipersrunclub.com Also, huge congrats to Vipers for their Movember mo[ve] 60 fundraising efforts, running 60 continuous hours of loops from Queenscliff to North Steyne Surf Clubs, and raising just shy of $100,000 (as we go to print) for men’s mental health.