Greta and Chris Truscott

If you've ever looked at a Pledge leaderboard, there's a good chance Rejoov Runners was sitting somewhere near the top. That's mostly down to Greta and Chris Truscott.

They started Rejoov back in 2007 as a sports massage and fitness business, and it's grown into a run club of 170-odd people (and a TCS Sydney Marathon partner club). They've done every 48 Hour Mission we've ever run, five of them now, finishing 5th, 4th, 4th, 2nd and 2nd. So yes, they'd quite like that top spot this year.

“She doesn't take no for an answer”

Ask Chris how Rejoov gets so many people involved and he'll point straight at Greta.

“The one thing Greta is really good at is whipping people up into action,” he says. “She doesn't take no for an answer, believe me. 20 years of marriage.”

We've seen it ourselves. Online, in person, at the end of a long run, if there's a Mission on, every Rejoover is going to hear about it.

That paid off in March, when Greta got more than 100 Rejoovers into our Kickstart Mission with TCS Sydney Marathon. Over 21 days they made 284 pledges, covered more than 17,000 km between them and won both the team activity and team impact leaderboards. Emily Bassett and Kernow Craig made the individual podiums too.

“It was massive for us,” Greta says. “So many activities, so many pledges, so much impact being done.” Chris was a bit more blunt about it: “We are pretty much solely a running club. And we took it out.”

The little things that stick

Across the club, the pledges have been the everyday kind. Beach litter picks, keep cups, hanging the washing out instead of using the dryer, eating more plants, running or riding to work.

Greta reckons the competitions keep everyone honest. “All of these competitions help us to be more mindful of our day-to-day pledges.” For Chris it's been the learning. “The educational piece has been magnificent,” he says, and he's noticed the habits hanging around long after the leaderboards close, “making their way into just normal everyday life.”

Even their dog Millie is in on it. She fetches rubbish out of the ocean. Not even joking.

Solar on the roof

This year they wanted to do something bigger at home. “It was kind of a lightbulb moment,” Chris says. “We really wanted to make a change,” Greta adds. “What else could we do to help the environment?”

So they put rooftop solar on the house. By the time Alice dropped round, the panels were already up, and there's now an app on the phone showing how much power they're making and how much CO2e they're saving each day. Chris's advice if you're thinking about it: do your research, then go for it.

Racing for more than a medal

Their own races count too. At the 80 km Bondi to Manly Ultra in 2024, Greta came 2nd female and Chris 10th male, and they turned the whole thing into an Individual Mission that action-raised 82 pledges from friends and family. Greta's race-day pledge is one every runner can pinch: no gel wrappers on the ground. Pocket them.

Heading into this year's 48 Hour Mission, the Rejoov plan is very Rejoov. Friday night swims, Saturday morning runs, more running or swimming on Sunday, a fair bit of plogging, and following through on every pledge. Some of the crew will be training for Ultra Trail Kosci or Tarawera at the same time, because of course they will.

Five years of top-five finishes. We wouldn't bet against them. 💙