Too far to run? Too heavy to lift? Too long to swim? Nonsense. Sophie Bond meets three extreme Aucklanders.
Brenda Russell
ocean swimmer
On the first day of the ocean swim racing season the grassy bank above Takapuna Beach fills with sleek, black-wrapped bodies. Brenda Russell smears balm around the neck of her wetsuit. "This stuff is a lifesaver because the chafing you get from turning your head to breathe is terrible," she says.
The 31-year-old from Sunnynook has come straight from her insurance company job. Her face glows as she enthuses about the sport that will consume her summer.
In the next five months, Brenda will compete in 24 races, from Christchurch to Paihia, ranging in length between 1km and 3.2km. In four years she's won the Takapuna Beach series twice and usually manages third or fourth in other events.
"I just want to do the best I can and be as close to the top as possible. I'm classed as an elite swimmer, but I don't really train with New Zealand's elite, so [my ranking] is pretty good. It's nice to put yourself against the best and see how you come up."
With three swim coaches in her family, there was "no chance of getting away with not being a swimmer", says Brenda with a laugh. Growing up in landlocked Zimbabwe, she started young as a competitive pool swimmer, but gave it up when she moved to New Zealand six years ago.
It wasn't long before she tried ocean swimming. "I started out doing it for fun but, then, I thought, no, Brenda doesn't do things for fun. I want to compete."
She begins pool training in the spring: four weekly sessions of 5.4km. "The elite train all year round but I take winter off.
"Ocean swimming offers a change of scenery. You get to go around the country seeing different things and it's quite exciting."
Earlier this year, she competed in three ocean swims in South Africa, coming second in one race behind Australia's world champ, Melissa Gorman. Now FINA, the international body governing open water swimming - has invited Brenda back to South Africa in February to compete in the Midmar Mile on the Midmar dam.
"It's an awesome opportunity to be sponsored to go," she says.
A slight fear of seeing a shark's fin nags at her but nothing keeps Brenda out of the sea.
She takes a drag on a blue inhaler. "I'm an asthmatic and ocean swimming has really done my health a world of good. Really, if you want to get fit, do ocean swimming."
Jono MacFarlane
strongman and jiu jitsu newcomer
"I've nearly thrown up blood from doing that stuff." Jono MacFarlane is talking about the gruelling events that make up strongman competitions: pulling a 20-tonne truck, walking 30m with a 160kg suitcase in each hand, and carrying a yoke weighing 430kg (sightly less than a Mini).
"It's so intense. In two hours of competing I would lose 4kg from sweating," he says.
Jono's just 23, but several years of training mean the Howick resident already needs to give his body a long rest. When not lifting weights in Newmarket's dusty, dated, Gillies Ave Weightlifting Gym, or training for jiu jitsu (his newest sport), Jono is a part-time security officer at Manukau Institute of Technology. He's also an itinerant preacher for Baptist churches around Auckland.
At 1.94m-tall, weighing 136kg, Jono has an impressive sporting resume. A high school shotput star, he was Valerie Adams' training partner in 2005 and 2006. He then joined the gym and took up weightlifting, trying for the 2006 Commonwealth Games team until he was stopped by a shoulder injury.
While competing in regional highland games, he met strongman competitors and decided this was a sport he liked. At 19, he came third in New Zealand's Strongest Man competition and, at 20, won the title.
Last year, Jono moved up to international competition and came seventh in the Ultimate Strongman Championships.
He began this year intent on competing in the World Junior Powerlifting Champs. "But I realised my shoulders were seriously packing up and my body needed a break. I'm doing Brazilian jiu jitsu for a while because it doesn't involve lifting."
But Jono doesn't do things by halves. After just six months training, he's competing for one of seven New Zealand places at the Abu Dhabi World Pro jiu jitsu cup.
He says strongmen peak in their early to mid-30s, so this is a break before returning to what he really loves.
"When you compete as a strongman, you're pushing a limit of strength, explosiveness, willpower and mental toughness. People ask me why I do this and, right now, I'm wondering that myself. I loved that at my strongest, I could pick up anything. It was a good feeling. I'd go to the gym and feel like I owned it."
Last year, Jono made a number of Guinness World Record attempts "just for fun", and now holds the records for the longest throw of a person - a 65kg man flung 5.69m - and the longest washing machine throw, at 4.01m.
Sophie Anderson
ultra-marathon runner
Sophie Anderson turned 33 yesterday and, as is her custom, celebrated by running 33km.
She's swathed in an orange sari for the interview in The Blue Bird Cafe in Mt Eden where she's a part-time waitress. She doesn't own a car but commutes by running between the cafe, her Sandringham flat and her gardening jobs in Herne Bay, Mt Albert, Onehunga and One Tree Hill.
Eleven years ago, Sophie added two significant activities to her life. "It was a bit of a 'make yourself better' stage. I started running because I wanted to be fitter and I started meditating at about the same time."
In the beginning it was regular 5km jogs then, after a year, she entered a 12-hour race. "I really had a lot of pain. But at the end of it I was so happy."
Now she's a devoted distance runner whose goal is to complete 100 marathons in her lifetime. In 2006, she ran seven in as many weeks and is up to the 39th.
Sophie is a member of Auckland's Sri Chinmoy Centre and finds her distance running and meditation are complementary disciplines.
"Running really helps you meditate by clearing your mind and meditation helps your running by bringing peace and just believing in something deeper than yourself. Running just brings me so much joy. Everyone always says I just smile the whole way around the course."
She has completed five 24-hour running races, hosted by the Sri Chinmoy centre, and has a personal best of 144km. The New York branch of Sri Chinmoy holds a six-day race every year. Sophie competed in April this year.
"You run as far and as fast as you like. On day three your body starts to freak out quite a lot - shins, knees, calves. I was lucky. I didn't have too many problems, just blisters and being really tired. I was so amazed at what you can actually do. By day five I felt really good and thought I would try to do 300 miles (483km). I ran through the last night without sleep and ended up doing 303 miles."
She placed third of the women and is now keen to run it again, but with less sleep next time.
Black, rubbery toes wiggle from beneath her sari. Toe shoes are her latest obsession and she's already tested them in a marathon. "I feel if I can do this, there's nothing I can't do. I think even completing one marathon will give you joy for the rest of your life."
See the action
New Zealand's Strongest Man competition at Auckland Highland Games, Three Kings Reserve, Mt Eden, November 27, from 10am.
Auckland Harbour Crossing, 2.8km ocean swim from Bayswater to Viaduct Harbour, November 21, 7.05am.
Adventist Development and Relief Agency charity run, 5, 10 and 21km, Mission Bay, November 28. Races start between 7am and 8.30am.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Aucklander
What have we learned from the Auckland floods?
OPINION: There have been changes to warn city residents to get to higher ground.