Christchurch athlete Tom Davison was on the second floor of a 14 storey building on Tuam St in the centre city when the quake hit.
In the middle of a sponsorship meeting with his backers, Davison was sent hurtling to the floor, before he realised he was trapped in the office block.
"The door had jammed and we couldn't get out.
"In the end we busted out of there. It was chaos once we got down to the street," he said.
Davison's fellow Cantabrians, James Elvery, Cameron Goldsmid and Dylan McNeice, were all caught up in the quake-ravaged city, as were their team-mate, Martin van Barneveld, of Wellington, and NZ Tri team coaches Tim Braizer and Greg Fraine.
Meanwhile, top New Zealand female athlete Andrea Hewitt, of Christchurch, and her partner, Laurent Vidal, the world No 7 ranked male triathlete, were worried about how her family had fared in Christchurch.
They were all safe and well, but the family home was now unlivable, Hewitt said.
Elvery said his home in Shirley was uninhabitable because a quake-induced "river started running down the drive".
He had thrown the idea of a fundraising initiative out to the group of athletes, after they had all relocated to Wanaka.
"I just thought we had to do something.
"We are all lucky we have somewhere like Wanaka to come to, but there are a lot of people still in Christchurch struggling," he said.
Several of the athletes spoke about feeling helpless.
Organising a 4km fun run along the Wanaka lakefront tomorrow evening was one way they could help those still in Christchurch.
Despite the disruption caused to their respective training build-ups, the group is looking ahead to the New Zealand national triathlon championships being staged in Wellington next weekend.
Some of the group are staying at high-altitude triathlon training facility the Snow Farm, while the rest were staying in Hawea with Sandy and Barry Dodds - the parents of their NZ team-mate, Tony Dodds, Elvery said.
The 4km fun run/walk at Pembroke Park will cost $10 for adults and $5 for children, with registration for the event starting from 5pm.
