I am Hope: Taupō emergency services members complete lake charity walk

The group of 12 emergency services personnel near the beginning of the challenge to tackle the 160km walk around Lake Taupō in 40 hours. Photo / Chris Marshall

A group of 12 Taupō emergency services workers were sore and sunburnt – but stoked, after they finished their mammoth fundraising walk around Lake Taupō last weekend.

Starting on Friday afternoon, they took on the challenge to tackle the 160km walk in 40 hours to raise money for youth mental health charity I Am Hope.

The walk was continuous, with participants stopping only briefly to rest and eat.

The idea for the fundraiser came from police sergeant Toby Officer for whom the event was a blistering success.

“We’ve got sunburnt, sore legs, all of the above but we’re happy that we finished.”

Officer said in his 16 years as a policeman, he had been called out to countless suicides and suicide attempts.

To provide New Zealand’s youth with extra support, he united Taupō Police, Fire and Emergency, Hato Hone St John and Greenlea Rescue Helicopter for the fundraising challenge.

“[The fundraiser was] another way of helping to raise awareness and, through I am Hope, providing an avenue for [youth] to seek help,” Officer said.

Aeron Mellish, of Greenlea Rescue Helicopter, who Officer and Taupō Police’s Chris Whitworth described as one of the challenge’s “stars”, said everyone had sore feet and blisters.

“Most people ended up with some aches or pains at some point but, overall, the team did work together well and helped each other out through those tough times,” she said.

Physiotherapist Sarah Battson visited the walkers on four occasions throughout the weekend and said she was called for lots of “footwork”, as well as work on ankles, knees, blisters and “positive affirmation”.

“Spirits were pretty low in the early hours of Sunday morning, but the team did incredibly well to pick themselves up for the final section,” Battson said.

Aeron Mellish, of Greenlea Rescue Helicopter, who Officer and Taupō Police’s Chris Whitworth described as one of the challenge’s “stars”. Photo / Chris Marshall

Of the 12 people who started the walk, 11 people finished, with only one pulling out after medical advice at Tūrangi due to knee issues.

Nevertheless, Officer that participant still walked 107km and “staunched up” to rejoin the walkers for the last 3km.

While walking a bit more slowly than when he set out, on Sunday morning Officer said he was “still up in the clouds”.

“All went really well. Now it’s back to reality.”

The group was welcomed back to Kaimanawa Reserve behind the Taupō Fire Station by the Greenlea Rescue Helicopter, which descended on the reserve to celebrate representatives from the services involved.

The challenge had been 12 months in the planning and Officer was originally just going to do it by himself.

Representatives of Taupo's four emergency services - Greenlea Rescue Helicopter, Fire and Emergency, Police and Hato Hone St John - are fundraising for I am Hope. From left: Michael Lowe, Zoe Farmer, Craig Farrar, Te Ahu Witana-King, Suz Bismark, Mark Doohan, Toby Officer, Jeremy Poynter, Chris Whitworth, Cha Ruka, Jess Earnshaw, Rose Battersby, Tull Colman (absent: Aeron Mellish).

“But as soon as I told a colleague, ‘I want to raise money for I am Hope’, he said, ‘I don’t care what it is, count me in’. And from there it sort of developed a life of its own.”

Soon, fellow police officers Cha Ruka, Jeremy Poynter and Christopher Whitworth, firefighters Craig Farrar, Te Ahu Witana-King, Suz Bismark and Mark Doohan, paramedics Jess Earnshaw, Rose Battersby and Tull Coleman, and Aeron Mellish, Zoe Farmer and Michael Lowe from Greenlea Rescue Helicopter joined in on the mission.

The team has so far raised $9895 of their $40,000 goal, however, that figure was “chosen at random”, Officer said.

“Any money we can raise... will be a bonus.”

For more information or to donate until November 15, visit the team’s Givealittle page.