In 2023, a group of 33 third-year boys, calling themselves the ‘Heavy Breathers’, raised 100k to support men’s mental health. The Breathers ran the Emerson’s Dunedin Marathon, donating their proceeds to mental health charity Spark That Chat. And for 2025, they’re back. Or rather, their brothers are back. Ben Norris, Ieremia Morris, Jack Callear, and Wills French are the little brothers of the 2023 Heavy Breathers, who will be completing this September’s Emerson’s marathon alongside Louis Bonetti, Oscar Reid, and Jasper O’Loughlin. Critic Te Ārohi sat down (we prefer not to run) with some of the Breathers for a DMC.
Fifty Castle Street boys, 42 kilometres, and 18 weeks to train – and none of them have ever run a marathon before. But don’t worry – “everyone’s come from a sporting background” – so they’ll be sweet. Let’s hope none of them do bowling or something. Carrying on Heavy Breathers’ legacy has been in the back of their minds since the afterparty of the 2023 marathon. “[We] kind of always knew we were going to do it”, but it wasn’t until this year that they really locked in. Echoing your three-month situationship, they told Critic the commitment is “scary”.
Louis tells Critic the group of breathas are from all over the country, but the group was made because they all kind of know each other on Castle Street – “And we’ll keep on getting to know each other better”. You know what they say, nothing brings people closer than running 42 kilometres together. The boys did their first big group run two weeks ago, which they agreed was a pretty cool experience. “Even when you are running, there’s no better feeling than that,” Oscar told Critic. “Like, completing the run with someone and the yarns throughout and getting to know someone.” This year, the Breathers are raising money for Lads without Labels, a student-led, student-focused mental health and wellbeing charity. When Critic asked why they decided to choose a different charity this time round, Ben explained that the first Heavy Breathers had raised a lot of money for Spark that Chat, and “it’d be cool to just spread it out”.
There’s been some initial struggle with everyone wanting to join what they think is a run club, with Ben admitting to Critic that he actually really hates running. “Everyone does running sometimes, but we’re not a group of runners. We’re a group of breathers who are trying to run.” A fine distinction. In fact, none of them are super keen about the whole running part of a marathon, they’re all really focused on spreading awareness around men’s mental health. Not just in terms of actual fundraising, but throughout Studentville and with each other.
Critic was sceptical at this point. The 50 guys are running to support a cause, but do they know what they’re spreading awareness about? “I feel like that's kind of the point. We don’t know…no one really deals with it,” says Ieremia. “It’s almost like bringing awareness to the fact we don’t know.”
The Heavy Breathers were in agreement that to have 50 guys running for mental health was a good thing to come out of Castle Street, which is usually in the news for all the wrong reasons. “It’s bigger than just you running the marathon. It’s not just you, you’re running for what you stand for, what you’re fundraising for,” says Louis. “I mean, we’re not animals.”
Mental health on Castle Street isn’t all rosy, and the boys said it’s hard to know just how everyone’s faring, given how “normalised” it is to ignore it. “You just don’t talk about it. It’s so undercover [...] because it’s just like, how it is,” Ben explained. “Until it gets within one degree of you, you often don’t really think about it.” They struggled to conceptualise what supporting each other looked like, which is the problem they are trying to solve – with Ieremia reckoning that it could start with having each other’s backs throughout training. “I feel like as our group, or especially our group, no one’s really gonna be on their own. They’re always gonna have someone to talk to now that we have a group that supports the cause.”
To support the Heavy Breathers, donate to the Give a Little page in their Instagram bio @heavybreathers_. If you’re struggling with mental health, Student Health provides a confidential Mental Health and Wellbeing Service. Book appointments with the clinic at 0800 479 821. If one of your mates seems to be getting on the piss more than normal, reach out to them. Have a yarn. As the boys said in our interview, the first step is to just reach out for a chat.