TRI 24 & COASTAL FIVE

Taranaki woman Suzanne McCarthy is organising a 24-hour triathlon to raise funds for a charity and to pay tribute to Mark Turner.

“When Mark passed away, people were left without their mentor really,” says Suzanne of her ex-husband and Coastal Five business partner, who took his life on December 17, 2022.

“He did leave a bit of a hole when he died, and I hope that inspires people to get behind the event. This is a tribute to what he did bring to the community in the short time he was here. Whenever Mark is talked about, the word ‘community’ is used a lot.” Also community minded, Suzanne is organising Tri24, being held on February 17-18, 2024, to fundraise for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Taranaki. The charity’s website says: “Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors help form strong positive relationships that express care, challenge growth, share power, and expand possibilities.”

Supporting the charity through a sporting event is important to Suzanne, mother of sons Finn, 7, and Charlie, 5. “I think there’s a direct corelation between our physical health and our mental health,” she says. “It starts with our kids to give them the foundation and a love for exercise.” The charity is also meaningful for her: “It’s something my children are on the waiting list for – my children don’t have that male role model.”

Tri24 is a team event and Suzanne is hoping businesses, especially the corporates, will support it. The event is open to 32 teams of up to 12 people.

Some participants might be all-rounders who want to have a go at all three disciplines – swimming, cycling and running. But others may choose to take part in two or even one section of Tri24.

The day will begin with a 4-hour swim session at the Todd Energy Aquatic Centre. From there, teams will hop on their bicycles and head out to the Taranaki Cycle Park at Bell Block, where they will ride around the circuit for 12 hours, and then run around the same track for 8 hours.

During the ride along the Coastal Walkway, Suzanne is keen to see members of the public cheering the triathlon teams. “One of the goals is to make the transition from pool to the cycle park stand out.” To spark even more interest and raise awareness, the athletes will be encouraged to dress up for the walkway section – there will be prizes for best outfits.

While the event is focused on fundraising and participation, there will still be a leader board clocking how many laps teams complete during the 24 hours.

“People can do as little as 10 minutes at a time; not everyone is a triathlete but many are swimmers, cyclists or runners.”

There will be an area for people to pitch tents or marquees and participants will have access to the Bell Block Rugby and Community Club rooms at Hickford Park. Tri24 was initially meant to support another cause. “Mark was in the last stages of starting a charity to help improve the health outcomes for our community,” she says. It was to be aimed at parents with children or people who had someone depending on them and to raise awareness about the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle especially with the effects on mental health, something Mark was vocal about.

“All these things were coming together for this charity. As part of that we had talked about putting on a 24-hour triathlon as a fundraiser to kick start the charity and it was going to be an annual fundraiser,” Suzanne says. The charity couldn’t continue without Mark, who was the main driver.

But Tri24 is going ahead, as is the Coastal Five. On November 18 and 19, it will be the third time Coastal Five has been held. It involves five running events in two days, and added together, the distances total 42.2km, which is a marathon.

The event was born out of the pandemic. After working and living in Brisbane, Suzanne and Mark moved to Scotland, where he had a high-performance coaching role for Triathlon Scotland, the national team.

“Then Covid hit. So, we moved to New Zealand, essentially to raise the kids.” They had to start from scratch, saw a gap in the market and created Coastal Five. “It’s such a fantastic place with amazing scenery. Essentially, the Coastal Five is about showcasing what we have in Taranaki,” she says. “It helped that Mark was looking at the region with fresh eyes so he could see the beauty in what some of us locals took for granted.”

Coastal Five is supported by Shoe Clinic, Fitstop, Habit Health, VBW and Venture Taranaki.

People keen on entering, can go to www.coastalfive.co.nz and teams keen to take part in the day-long triathlon can go to www.tri24.co.nz.