Spencer Benjamin took on the Sydney Marathon on Sunday in a pair of high-heeled stilettos, using the race to honour the women who supported him through his mental health struggles and, he says, “kept him alive”.

The Sydney local, who is involved with the Black Dog Institute, had been offered a last-minute entry to run the 42.2km event for the mental health charity. Then, just three days before the marathon, he went to a high heels shop in Newtown and bought a pair of stilettos, despite not doing a single practice run in them before race day.

Wearing a Black Dog Institute shirt and clear stiletto heels, Benjamin said he wanted to achieve “two birds with one stone” by drawing attention to both mental health and domestic violence against women. He also said the effort was inspired by the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes charity, which promotes ending domestic and gender-based violence by asking men to wear high heels and challenge gender stereotypes and expectations.

“Almost 50 women this year alone have died (because) of domestic violence and that’s something that really hits home,” he told news.com.au.

“It’s something I want to advocate against and to support better education for men, and to highlight the suffering of these women”.

After finishing the iconic Sydney Marathon course, Benjamin explained what drove him through the pain.

“Four hours worth of suffering for decades worth of pain that people in domestic violence go through, for a couple of blisters – that was the main driver,” Benjamin says after completing the iconic Sydney Marathon in high-heeled stilettos.

The 23-year-old from Sydney’s east said his own life had been shaped by grief and mental health struggles. He has lost his father and a school friend due to mental health struggles, and said the women around him, including his mother, aunties and sister, had been central to helping him endure.

“Being in this circle of such strong femininity, their strength really is something that’s kept me going, kept me alive and pushing and motivated. If I could give back to that in any way, I would absolutely do that”.

He said he felt compelled to act because of the women in his life and because of the broader issue of violence against women in Australia.

“In Australia, we’ve been affected so much by domestic violence and I think any effort that I can make to raise awareness against that and to try and reduce those statistics in any way.”

Benjamin admitted the challenge sounded extreme, calling himself “crazy” for tackling the full marathon in heels, but said the response showed people understood what he was trying to do.

“I was inspired by the women around me and I just felt compelled to do it. It was an amazing day; it was bloody hard, but that’s alright”.

He said encouragement from those lining the route and taking part in the event helped carry him through.

“The support from the crowd was unreal and I’m glad that it’s been able to connect with other people and to those people who are suffering, I feel for them. That’s the main message: I’m doing it for them and I just want to raise awareness”.

Benjamin also spoke directly about the support system that helped him survive his darkest periods.

“I could have never have done it without the women around me, my mum is an absolute saint, my sister, my aunties, my friends. I have gone through some really bad mental health and they’ve literally kept me alive. I’m so grateful for them”.

The run has since exploded online, with more than 150,000 people praising him on TikTok after footage of him charging through the Sydney Marathon went viral and drew almost 1.5 million views.

Benjamin completed the race in 4 hours and 19 minutes and has broken the Guinness World Record for fastest male running a marathon and wearing high heels.