On The Up: Hawke’s Bay teen to run 100 miles in 24 hours for mental health charity Spark That Chat

Bryn Morgan (left) and Jack Jensen at the Hawke's Bay Regional Sports Park, where Morgan will run 160km in 24 hours over the weekend. Photo / Jack Riddell

While some 18-year-olds will be out with mates or on the couch this weekend, one Hawke’s Bay teen will be out running for 24 hours straight to raise money for charity.

Bryn Morgan, from Puketapu, is a budding content creator and accomplished long-distance runner, having already completed several ultramarathons around the world.

An ultramarathon is a term for a running event longer than the traditional 42.195km marathon, with some lasting for days and hundreds of kilometres.

Morgan spent 2025 travelling through the Americas, where he worked at a summer camp in the United States before journeying through Vietnam and Nepal on his way back to New Zealand.

While walking down the trail from Everest Base Camp, Morgan started thinking about Australian ultramarathoner and motivational speaker Nedd Brockmann, and something clicked in his head.

“I was like, okay, screw it. Let’s do it,” Morgan said.

That “it” was to run 100 miles, or 160km, in 24 hours around the athletic track at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Sports Park to raise money for local mental health charity Spark That Chat, inspired by Brockmann’s 1000-mile charity runs.

Morgan reached out to the charity’s founder and local extreme sports athlete Jack Jensen from MSFT Productions, who quickly jumped on board to help, including offering to run the length of a marathon alongside Morgan – something the teen called “an honour”.

Morgan believes mental health is very widely talked about but is not acted upon enough, which drove him to want to do this challenge with Jensen and to raise money for Spark That Chat.

“Spark That Chat really goes hard because you talk can about it, but [the charity] brings people together to actually do stuff about it,” he said.

“Whether it’s something small to do with mental health or whether it’s a real big burden or anything in life – sparking that chat, talking to people about things and coming together to overcome those hurdles and stuff is really deep to me and my personal experiences.”

Jensen said this will be the first time he’ll be running a marathon, despite being a regular runner, but he was looking forward to the challenge.

“A marathon is definitely a good starting point, but I’m going to go as far and as long as I can,” Jensen said.

“He says it’s an honour [to run with me] but I’m honoured to share the space and also be inspired by Bryn to do this and step up and bring people together and go and get uncomfortable.

“That’s where growth is, and you really find things about yourself when you throw yourself into that situation of the uncomfortability.”

To reach the 100 miles with his 400 laps, Morgan will change from inside line to outside line to make sure he is making the distance.

Morgan and Jensen will start their run at midday on Saturday and run all the way through to midday Sunday.

While they’re running, Morgan said, the sidelines will be a “24-hour party” and he is happy for anyone to come along and join. Even if they would rather run alongside the boys than just cheer them on.

Donations can be made to Morgan and Spark That Chat via the event’s Givealittle page, which can be found by searching 100-Mile Ultramarathon for Spark That Chat online.

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Britain, Germany, and New Zealand.