Going the distance: Matt Crawley swims Lake Ontario to raise awareness for men’s mental health
Matt has always turned to physical activity as a form of release. Whether he’s building tiny homes or putting in hours of training for long distance challenges, keeping busy physically helps keep Matt well mentally. Endurance sport enthusiast, Dominique Lewis-Tremblay, admires his mental fortitude. “When he puts his mind to something he gets it done. He’s always known that dreaming big and working hard go hand in hand, and I truly admire him for that.” Matt, like many of us, has a brain that never shuts off, so staying busy helps him cope.
Endurance training is mentally healing
Matt has always liked running and pushing his body to the limits. His interest in endurance sports began by running a 5K, then expanded every day trying to go faster, and faster.
Finally, it clicked that through challenging himself physically he was feeling better mentally.
A friend told him about an Ironman in New Zealand, and he decided to go for it. He bought a bike and began his training. He fell in love with the routine of preparing for these challenges and credits the methodology to helping him deal with his own mental health struggles. One of the biggest challenges of training for these events is the mental component. “You have to be incredibly mentally strong to finish a triathlon. During the run your mind will tell you to give up, and it is easy to believe it and give in. Your body is hurting, you’re in a lot of pain, but once you can channel your mental strength and push through that pain, you’d be amazed at what your body can do. Visualization helps get me through the negative thoughts. I’ve been visualizing finishing this swim and how cool it would be to actually complete it and get to the other side of the lake. The thought of it, gets me so excited and motivates me to train harder.”
Pushing himself to new limits
" There’s a stigma behind men speaking out about their mental health. Men shouldn’t have to fear the outcome of speaking out about their health and problems. "
Matt is preparing for his biggest challenge yet, an overnight swim from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Marilyn Bell Park in Toronto. Swimming is his least favourite aspect of the triathlon which is why he’s looking forward to the challenge. He endeavours to swim 51.5km in 22 hours. The average swim time is around 20 hours with the fastest on record coming in at 13:49. This isn’t Matt’s first endurance rodeo and he’s no stranger to long distance efforts. He’s a two-time Boston Marathon runner and competed in his first Ironman in 2023. Matt cites Ross Edgely, the British ultra-marathon sea swimmer as his inspiration. “He swam around Britain, and he does these insane swimming challenges. It’s crazy to think that the human body is even capable of some of the stuff that he does. If he can do it, it inspires me to go and do something like that one day.”
Finding Movember at the perfect time
When looking for a charity to fundraise for, Matt discovered Movember. “I was trying to decide who I wanted to raise money for, and I considered raising money for another cancer research organization, but Movember felt more personal to me.” I’ve dealt with depression and other mental health struggles in the past and I want to raise awareness about Movember’s investment and commitment to changing the face of men’s health. Through his swim, Matt is hoping to inspire people to do something they’ve always wanted to do but think that they can’t. “Endurance sports have helped me, so I’m hoping that they could help other people too.” His advice to those who are looking to get involved, “If you put your mind to something and work hard, anything is achievable. Don’t be too scared to take on a big challenge, because you never know where it can take you.”
Hopes for the future of men’s health
“There’s a stigma behind men speaking out about their mental health. Men shouldn’t have to fear the outcome of speaking out about their health and problems.” Matt hopes that through his work with Movember he can build community and work to end this harmful stigma. Movember can help bring more eyes to the urgency of this issue. Men are dying way too young from preventable causes. He reflects, “Men’s health isn’t great, the more people we can get involved, the more money we can raise, and the more men we can heal.” Matt is aiming to raise $15,000 for Movember and starts his swim on August 25th.