Creating Joy in Water memories on the waterfront during the 2026 Gold Coast Marathon, Queensland Business Development Manager Brenton Turner embraced the challenge of endurance running while rallying support for Beyond Blue.
Brenton raised more than $2,500 for the charity, helping to generate awareness for mental health while building strong bonds of camaraderie and mateship with his training group. The loss of a friend following significant mental health challenges became the catalyst for Brenton and his friends to take on the milestone event, crossing the finish line in early July while honouring their friend’s memory and supporting a worthy cause.
What is your role at Atlan?
I am a Business Development Manager on Atlan’s Queensland team. I like meeting new people. I’ve always been a people person – and I like working in a team that finds solutions for our clients and helps people solve their problems.
How was your first marathon experience?
Eye opening. I was training for a good six months beforehand and even with all that training – nothing truly prepares you for what you are going to experience. You get to the 20K mark, and you realize you’ve got another 22 kilometres to go. Then soon it’s 12 kilometres, then it’s all up to you, you need to push, you’re nearly there and you’ve got to finish it.
You supported Beyond Blue on your run. What do you think is the importance of mental health?
I think it’s important to speak about it – not just to bottle up inside. Someone cares and someone will listen, whether that’s a best mate, your parents or even seeing a health professional.
It’s the small, simple things that can help you out in those moments. I’ve got some awesome mates, and we sort of always talk about and be open about what is going on in our lives – it’s great to have a support network.
What was the support like on your journey?
The support was outstanding.
My family all chipped in, which helped – and I had mates that were there with me helping out during the run.
My Atlan colleagues would support me the days I would leave the office to go on a run before picking up my kids from school.
Did you reach your donations target?
I went to (Atlan CEO) Andy Hornbuckle one morning, knocked on his door and said ‘this is what I’m doing’ and he was a bit gobsmacked on (my desire) to run 42 kilometres. He said Atlan would kick off with a donation.
People in the office, people from Sydney, people from Victoria, people from the concrete yard here, all messaging or donating was huge. I’ve experienced that this company cares about its employees and what they do outside of work as well.
Why is Joy in Water important to you?
Joy in Water means to me that there’s always going to be that environmental future for the kids. I’ve been running around lakes and parks and up and down the coast, and to see that may be taken away one day because of the pollution – and that my kids potentially can’t experience that… it really sort of angers me.
So, I’m happy that at Atlan, we are making positive impacts with upstream treatment, Gross Pollutant Traps and stormwater infrastructure – knowing that what we’re doing each day is stopping and preventing that is awesome.