Albany Property Team gear up for Dirt N Dust Run, having raised more than $12,000 for mental health support

An adventurous Albany real estate trio will take to the dusty roads of regional WA for five days next week in a bid to raise money for mental health support in disaster-hit communities.

Currently holding the mantle for the most successful fundraisers among the 27 teams competing in the Dirt N Dust Run, the Albany Property Team has so far managed to raise $12,341 for Greater Bunbury Rotary.

While this year’s rally will be the second for Darren Leslie and Lee Mulvey, who tested out the strength of their Dukes Of Hazzard-themed car in the 2024 run, it is the first time sales administrator Ryan Spencer has done anything of the sort.

“Lee was showing me photos from last year, showing me photos of the games they had organised and the costume days, and it just looked really, really fun,” Mr Spencer said.

“I’d sort of recently not been getting up to a whole lot, and the rest of the office encouraged me to go with them this year.”

Having only joined the team six months ago, he said the rally would be the ultimate team bonding experience.

“We’ll be in a small space, very confined for multiple days on end — so if I don’t know them now, I’m sure I would at the end of it,” Mr Spencer said.

Starting at Mumballap on Wednesday, the team will drive an unknown remote route, including time in the Great Southern for five days.

They will be given their lunchtime destination each morning, and then a camp spot from there, finishing in Bunbury on Sunday.

Activities are scheduled for the rural towns they visit along the way, with teams also encouraged to dress up according to the day’s dedicated theme.

Mr Leslie said this year’s themes included Swedish, convicts, and “dress as your car”.

“Ours is General Lee from Dukes Of Hazzard, so we’ll be dressed up with costumes related to that,” he said.

He said he and Mr Mulvey had “ironed out the cobwebs” from last year, including fine-tuning their fundraising campaign.

“We know what to take, what not to take, and actually how to fundraise, which has been good,” he said.

“We had a sausage sizzle . . . on the main street this year, and that worked well and most of the sponsors have increased their sponsorships this year so that we’ve had some really good support.

“We have five days, really, of mayhem, and it’s a fun event, but it’s a good chance just to reflect on life, slow down a little bit and think about helping others.”