Charity mega-triathlon to make its way through Whanganui and Taihape to raise awarness for children’s chairty

Mike King and a team partially comprised of ex-athletes will run, bike, swim and kayak their way through the Whanganui and Rangitīkei districts to raise awareness for Gumboot Fridays. Photo / Supplied

A group of New Zealanders, including former athletes, will make their way to Whanganui and Taihape as part of a charity mega-triathlon covering the length of the North Island.

In the 16-day event dubbed the Due Drop Challenge eight participants will run, bike, swim and kayak their way through the island to raise funds and awareness for children’s counselling service Gumboot Friday.

Gumboot Friday and I am Hope founder Mike King said the team taking part was pumped and ready to go.

“We can’t wait to meet with the communities along the way and let them know, help is available, help is here and we want your kids to use it. This what this is all about,” he said.

The event was originally scheduled to start in February but was postponed due to Cyclone Gabrielle.

The delay was due to I Am Hope setting up a wellness centre in Hawke’s Bay and an ongoing flood-relief fundraiser.

King said the organisers were disappointed to have to delay the event after many sleepless nights spent planning the challenge.

“But there’s no point in sitting around moping. We got ourselves to the East Coast and went straight to work talking to the community about their needs and set up the wellness centre to get as many families the help they needed urgently,” he said.

At 7am on Saturday, April 22, the team will depart from New Plymouth and make their way to Whanganui.

The route between the two cities is 156km, with more than 1000m of elevation change and will include a stopover in Patea for a 2-3km swim.

They’re expected to arrive at Cooks Gardens by 4pm to complete the leg, where the community is invited to meet the team.

There will also be an all-ages community event held at The Barracks sports club at 6.30pm.

The next day the team will head out into the Rangitīkei District towards Taihape, where they’ll travel 120km across both tarmac and gravel roads with 1300m of elevation change.

By 1.30pm the team will be expected to have made it to Taihape, where a community event will again be held at the Awastone café at 6.30pm.

People taking part in the challenge include All Blacks legend Ian ‘Kamo Kid’ Jones, triathlon world champion Rick Wells, NRL star Richie Barnett and King himself.

Jones said while they were delayed, the team were never distracted from the upcoming job at hand.

“The team kept positive and continued hard training sessions in preparation of the mammoth task ahead, and we look forward to raising awareness of Gumboot Friday, especially in the regions,” he said.

Wells said the cause made the challenge worth the wait and they were ready to hit the ground running.

“It’s also worth mentioning our ‘civilian’ participants who are not from professional sporting backgrounds but your regular ‘crazy old buggers’ who are mostly over 50 and love a good gut-twisting charity challenge. Good people doing a great thing for a brilliant cause.”

Included in those non-athlete participants is Karim Rostami, who fled from the Taliban to New Zealand when he was 8 and survived polio, after which walking was considered a miracle by doctors.

The event started on Tuesday and had already funded around 2800 free counselling sessions.

The team are expected to make it to the finish line at the Beehive on April 26.

People can donate to the challenge via Gumboot Friday’s website or Givealittle page.