The Fred Hollows Foundation’s national fitness challenge returns for its seventh year in August, bringing Australians together to move, fundraise and help restore sight.

Thousands of Australians are preparing to lace up, dive in and step up as The Fred Hollows Foundation launches Fred’s Big Run 2026, bringing together an inspiring line-up of ambassadors, athletes and everyday Australians determined to help end avoidable blindness.

The month-long virtual fitness challenge encourages participants to run, walk, swim or ride throughout August while raising funds to support The Foundation’s sight-restoring work around the world, including Australia.

Leading this year’s campaign is Winter Paralympian and Snow Australia Para Female Athlete of the Year, Georgia Gunew.

Living with the degenerative eye condition Stargardt’s macular dystrophy, Miss Gunew brings a deeply personal connection to the cause and hopes to help raise awareness of vision loss through her involvement.

“As a visually impaired athlete losing your vision is such a traumatic experience and it can be preventable for so many people,” Ms Gunew said.

“A small cost of only $25 can help the foundation to restore eyesight and what an absolutely incredible event to raise money for, if it is for an initiative where other people don’t have to experience losing their eyesight is really important to me.”

An initiative she has known about her whole life and learned about during her schooling years, the Foundation has been something she has supported for many years and she was honoured to be an ambassador for this year’s Fred’s Big Run fundraising event.

“It is such an important foundation and something obviously very important to my heart so I was super happy to get involved,” Ms Gunew said.

“You can sign up to run individually or as part of a team to run 50, 100 or 150 kilometres and that’s either running, walking or swimming. I am going to try ski some of my kilometres, any way you can move within those distances is the main part of the the Big Run as well as aiming to raise funds through sponsors and donations.”

Miss Gunew will be taking to the slopes of Perisher Resort this winter in July after recovering from an injury.

She is looking forward to racking up the kilometres in August on the slopes in our very own backyard.

Fresh off competing at the 2026 Winter Paralympics, Ms Gunew has been legally blind since her mid-teens due to the degenerative genetic condition, however, since her diagnosis she has not let it stop her chasing her dreams, she races down mountains at speeds upwards of 100km/h entirely guided by helmet communication.

“Competing at the Paralympics was such a whirlwind experience. I am pretty happy with how I performed overall I got a top 10 result, which is a pretty good effort for an Aussie girl in her first Paralympics,” Ms Gunew said.

“It was so exciting and incredible to be there competing with all the other athletes, an unforgettable experience.”

Her 100km August run comes as she navigates an intense recovery from a horse-riding accident that left her with a concussion, broken rib, shoulder injury and a collapsed lung.

Ms Gunew knows firsthand the psychological and physical hurdles of progressive vision loss and she is using her platform to change perceptions of disability, advocate for adaptive sports, and champion the fact that 9 out of 10 people with vision impairment globally suffer from entirely preventable causes.

Miss Gunew is particularly passionate about driving the launch of Fred’s Big School Run this year, encouraging Aussie school kids to embrace inclusion, accessibility and community fundraising.

“I feel super passionate about people with disabilities getting involved in an activity, whether it be sport, a hobby, an activity I think it is a great opportunity to be involved in something bigger than yourself and while it can be intimidating, just take it slow and steady and be patient with yourself is really important,” Ms Gunew said.

“Don’t let your disability be a barrier to what you can achieve, just give it a go because you never know what you can do until you give it a go.”

This year, the Foundation aims to raise $1.5 million to deliver sight-saving surgeries, train local eye health workers and provide essential equipment and care to those experiencing preventable vision loss.

New for 2026, the Foundation will also launch Fred’s Big School Run, encouraging schools across Australia to collectively move, fundraise and learn about the global impact of avoidable blindness throughout August.

Fred’s Big Run is free to enter and open to people of all ages and abilities, Visit fredsbigrun.org to find out more and to register.