One Broken Tree

Thank you Sir John Robert Madejski, OBE, DL & The Mayor of Reading for flagging off One Broken Tree at Reading Half Marathon and Green Park Challenge

When Broken Tree met Big Ben
At Reading Half Marathon and Green Park Challenge

My Story

While others race past, I walk.

I am OneBrokenTree – a solitary figure walking marathons dressed as a damaged tree. In a world obsessed with speed, I choose deliberate slowness. Trees don't run from chainsaws or wildfires; they face their fate rooted in place. My walking is both tribute and testimony.

When you see someone walking a marathon course in full tree costume, it creates a moment of pause. Why would someone choose to walk when everyone else is running? That moment of curiosity is exactly the point – it starts conversations about what we value, what we rush past, and what deserves our attention.

Why I'm Walking?

Trees cannot flee destruction. They stand witness to their own demise, recording it in their very rings. By walking these marathon courses instead of running them, I embody this reality. While runners streak past, focused on their personal best times, I move with the deliberate pace of a forest – slow, steady, and impossible to ignore.

Each step I take represents the countless trees that have no choice but to stand their ground. My walking is a form of solidarity with the voiceless giants that have supported human life for millennia.