Rookie ultra mountain runner Brenda Stringer will be doing the hard yards at Northburn today, inspired by her friend Claire Scofield, who copes with the daily challenges of living with cystic fibrosis.
''We were out walking together one day and Claire said she'd like to do something super-challenging like a 100km walk and I said I'd join her. That's how this whole journey began.''
Ms Stringer (26), of Cromwell, decided to enter the Northburn 50km mountain race and has written a blog about her training. She has also been using her involvement in the event as a way to raise funds for research into cystic fibrosis. Ms Scofield (25), of Clyde, has been training with her friend and will tackle the mountain half-marathon being held today as part of the package of events being staged at Northburn Station.
''We've been friends since our uni days, about five or six years, and it's amazing if Brenda feels I've motivated her to do this,'' Ms Scofield said. She was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of 8. The condition causes mucus to become thickened and build up in the body, which leads to a host of health problems, mostly affecting the lungs and digestive system.
Ms Scofield works as a research assistant at Plant and Food Research at Earnscleugh and has about ''three or four'' stints in hospital a year as a result of her condition.
She has found improving her fitness, through training for the Northburn event, had also improved her lung function markedly. Ms Stringer is a technical officer for Grape Vision Ltd and said her role on vineyards was ''quite physical, so I don't manage to train every day''. ''But living in an area like this, we're so lucky, as we're surrounded by mountains and it's a great place to train in, so we manage to get out most weekends for some training.''
Her aim is to complete the race, raise awareness of cystic fibrosis and gain more donations for Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand.
''I've never really looked at competing in an event like this before but adventure racing has really taken off in the last few years. I suspect this could be my first and last attempt, though, and I'll probably end up coming back next time, but only as a volunteer.''
She continues to be inspired by how her friend copes with having cystic fibrosis.
''Claire's an amazing person and it's hard to accept that there's really nothing I can do for her, other than be her friend.''
