Origin Story

100km Club is not about replacing existing school run clubs. It is about connecting them, recognising their history, and building a shared framework that supports schools to capture, celebrate, and strengthen participation over time. Across Australia, many schools have long delivered walking and running programs in their own way. 100km Club sits alongside this history, not above it, offering a flexible structure that allows schools to maintain their identity while contributing to a broader picture of movement and participation.

Over more than a decade, the program has been shaped through real implementation in real school communities, refined through practice, reflection, and collaboration.

Where it began: a simple student idea

At the heart of the 100km Club is a simple moment that shaped its direction.

In an early school setting in 2014, students were celebrating their running distances across a term when one student asked:

“Can we keep adding up our distances over the whole year instead of restarting each term?”

This question became a turning point.

It shifted the focus from short-term participation to long-term progress, and from isolated effort to a sustained personal journey.

From this idea, the concept of accumulating distance over time - the 100km journey - was formed.

From school practice to broader sharing

As the model developed in early school settings, it was shared through the iAIM (Increasing Activity & Intelligent Minds) initiative - a joint Queensland Department of Education & Health collaboration in the Darling Downs South West (DDSW) region focused on innovative approaches to physical activity across the school day.

Through this regional network (coordinated from 2014–2018), the 100km Club model was shared across schools, trialed by 20 DDSW schools, and presented at state, national, and international conferences, contributing to wider professional dialogue around school-based physical activity and engagement. 

This phase supported broader awareness and exploration of the model, with schools across different contexts adapting elements of the approach in their own ways.

Dalby State School, Queensland

Dalby State School was one of the foundation schools in the development of the 100km Club, where the model first emerged in 2014 through practical school-based experimentation.

Within the iAIM initiative, Dalby trialled an early kilometre-based running program focused on participation, lap counting, and house engagement, supported by school leadership and classroom teachers working collaboratively.

Ms Christine Fern (Year 2 teacher) worked with iAIM Regional Coordinator (Jocelyn Elliott) to develop a kilometre club. A key turning point came from student voice, when a student suggested:

Vale View SS - Explore the full case study

Caloundra State School, Queensland

Caloundra State School, was one of the early schools to adopt and further develop the 100km Club model and operates in a similar-sized context to Dalby State School.

Introduced in 2019 as “Cal 100”, the program has become embedded in school life while also playing a key role in refining how the model operates in a larger school environment.

Caloundra has been an important site for testing and evolving the model, particularly through a strong community-led delivery approach, with parents and carers actively involved in supporting each session alongside staff.

It has also contributed to the refinement of system elements within the framework, including participation tracking approaches and recognition systems such as class awards, milestones, and P&C-supported community events.

These refinements have strengthened engagement and visibility of participation across the school community.

The success of the Cal 100km Club has also attracted media attention. In March 2021, Sunshine Coast News featured the program in the article "Fit for learning: Caloundra students make big strides with morning run club", highlighting its positive impact on student wellbeing, attendance and readiness to learn. Read the article here.

Caloundra SS - Explore the full case study

A connected framework, not a single model

These schools reflect different contexts and approaches, but together they helped shape a shared framework.

Rather than standardising delivery, the 100km Club connects these approaches through simple guiding principles:

• students build their own distance over time

• schools choose how to implement and track participation

• recognition supports motivation and sustained engagement

• existing programs are supported, not replaced

This allows schools to maintain their identity and traditions while contributing to a broader understanding of participation and movement across communities.

Stewardship Today

Today, the 100km Club is stewarded by Aussie Active Communities, supporting schools (and other community organisations) to implement inclusive, evidence-informed and community-connected approaches to the program.

The focus remains on preserving the program’s core values - simplicity, inclusion, persistence and community ownership - while continuing to learn from practice, research and partnership as the program evolves.

The work is led by founder Jocelyn Elliott, an experienced educator and program designer who has worked across school, sport and community settings at local, regional and national levels. Her involvement spans early implementation at Dalby State School, regional coordination through the iAIM initiative, and ongoing delivery through Cal 100km Club.

With a background spanning primary, secondary and tertiary education, alongside involvement in sporting organisations and school communities, this experience continues to inform practical, school-ready approaches that are grounded in real-world implementation.