The 65-year-old chartered accountant did 404km in Sport Gisborne Tairāwhiti’s Swim to Māhia event in 2018, one of his first ventures into multi-day events. Participants swim the 45.5km distance from Gisborne to M`ahia in an indoor swimming pool challenge.
Cycling is his most recent activity of choice, maintaining a lifelong addiction to sport and exercise. Lyall is also a life member of the Gisborne Volunteer Coastguard, the Wainui Surf Lifesaving Club, Surf Life Saving Gisborne Assn and is a trustee of Sport Gisborne Tairāwhiti.
Gisborne born and bred, Lyall’s childhood home was the family business of Evans Funeral Services. Various garages on the property were filled with hearses, a mortuary and storage for coffins.
“Me and the neighbourhood kids would run and play games of pirates or speedway on our bikes around the yard,”, says Lyall. As the youngest of four siblings by a long margin, Lyall confesses he was “spoilt rotten”.
“One of us kids, and I am not saying who, was caught on the way down to the Taruheru River taking a coffin, to use as a kayak,” he laughed.
“One of my jobs was taking the funeral cars to the garage to fill up with petrol. I remember taking Dad’s Daimler, that had a Rolls Royce engine. Dad bought the car from the Crown, after the 1954 Queen’s visit and had it converted to a hearse. It was a massive vehicle, huge and very stately.”
It’s clear sports played a big role in Lyall’s life from early on.
“In the baby boom that followed World War 2, the neighbourhood was full of kids. Ours was a sporty neighbourhood with many of the kids going on to earn high honours in a range of sports, including tennis, rugby and soccer.
“When my siblings had all left home, I had the run of the place, and it was set up for sports — table tennis in the big room, a really large slot car track taking another entire room, and the stairs were a ski slope for going down on mattresses.”
Many of the older generation remember a simpler way of life where being outside until dusk was the norm, Lyall says.
“Life was very active as a kid. We were feral in that we were never home, playing on the streets and always at each other’s houses. I am sad how kids have become so sedentary when it’s a time for play and growth. We walked or biked to school, the bike rack areas were large and full of bikes.”
Nowadays Lyall is focused on a trip to the UK he and his wife Lee-Anne are planning. There he is going to take part in LeJog, a 1000 mile cycling challenge beginning at Land’s End, Cornwall and finishing at the furthest north point in Scotland, John o’Groats. The trail attracts thousands of cyclists each year.
Lyall is confident he can go the distance, having had the experience of completing the 3000km Tour Aotearoa.
This is a cycling route from Cape Reinga to Bluff, designed by NZ cycling guidebook writer Jonathan Kennett. The Kennett brothers — Jonathan, Paul and Simon — are mountain bike legends in this country and were inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2018.
For Lyall, preparing for the trip meant intense hours of training, cycling Gisborne’s streets.
“One of my favourite places was going to the very end of Kaiti Beach Road, often in the dark. We are so lucky to have such freedom and beauty on our doorstep.
“Part of the adventure was planning for it, and doing the work. Little parcels were arriving for about six months beforehand — cycling gear and all the items you needed,” he said.
Lyall has neck issues from a long-term injury, so he needed to have a bike built which would hold him more upright, taking the weight off his neck.
On the trail he was carrying 20kg of gear, including food and water. His biggest cycling day was 205km and over 2400m of elevation climbs.
One highlight of the trip:
“Just on dark, coming from Picton, after pushing our bikes up the steep Nelson hills, we came across a really steep hill with big boulders, up to 800 metres at the summit. It was just on dark and I had Van Morrison playing on my iPhone. I was on an absolute high; it was an unbelievable night.”
LeJog will be an easier ride. A dedicated person carries your gear between each sector and accommodation is in hotels, where Lyall is looking forward to a warm and comfortable bed to retire to after a day’s cycling. There will be time to sightsee too, and to stop off at the many pubs en route. Two cricket games in Cornwall are also on the agenda as well as catching up with family and friends.
Meanwhile back home in Gisborne Lyall continues to promote the benefits of exercise. He is chair of the Tapuwae Tairāwhiti Trails Trust, which has a major focus this year on the Taruheru River Trail. The concept of this trail has been on the Gisborne District Council’s long-term plan since 2017.
Lyall is a keen advocate for the trail which he says would go right though the middle of town, meaning access for some 23,000 people living within 1.6 kilometres of it. The path could be used by all modes of active transport, including e-bikes, mobility scooters and skateboards.
“The benefits would be enormous,” he says. “When you have exercise, your brain receives much more oxygen, the brain then produces more capillaries, more food. The benefits for young ones learning are much more than people realise. Also as you get older you need to remain active, somehow,” he said.
