Late brother honoured in toughest of runs

Cam Crook (left), of Queenstown and Henry Tomsett, of Wanaka, before setting off from Queenstown’s CBD early Friday, returning 23 hours later having almost claimed the resort’s triple crown, on foot. PHOTO: CAM BERQUIST

There was much more to a mammoth run in Queenstown on Friday than initially met the eye.

Cam Crook, 25, of Queenstown, and his good mate Henry Tomsett, 27, of Wanaka, set off from the Memorial Arch as the clock struck midnight, returning there 23 hours later.

In between, they ran up The Remarkables, where they reached the Shadow Basin cell tower, in snow, making the call to head back rather than push on to Single Cone; ran across the valley and summited Coronet Peak, then ran back into Queenstown and summited Ben Lomond.

They were supported by a host of people including Mr Crook’s father, Troy, and grandmother Rosemary, who did not sleep the entire time, and new friends, all of whom wanted to join the pair’s "The Next Foot Forward" movement.

Coinciding with Gumboot Friday, the run also marked the 10th anniversary of Mr Crook’s brother Ryan’s sudden death.

"I wanted to honour him for his 10th year, and do something significant that made me feel like ... that battle that he lost in his head wasn’t a battle lost in vain."

Having his dad and grandmother there, too, was "spectacular".

"For them, the 1st of November is a really tough time as well.

"It was pretty amazing to have my dad, who’s turning 54 in a couple of days, come along and smash out 87km himself ... that’s a bit of a testament to the power and the mana ... that was around during that day."

Mr Tomsett had also dealt with his own mental health battles and said he was "so frustrated at mental health awareness".

The primary goal of Friday’s event was to create an opportunity for people to open up and have a korero about their own mental health, and be around supportive people.

"Henners and I are both very lucky that we’re at a point in our own journeys ... that we feel comfortable enough to share a lot of our vulnerability pretty transparently with everyone, but we know that not everyone feels that way," Mr Crook said.

Mr Tomsett said for him it was about, if you had a bad day, being able to say: "hey, I’ve had a crap day — let’s go for a walk, get a coffee".

"Once you’ve aired it ... it’s so much easier to carry on and move forward."

The pair hope to make the three peaks challenge an annual event. They raised more than $6000 for Gumboot Friday.