A challenge from Mosgiel athlete Brodie Carvalho to Central Otago firefighters has sparked a multisport event that looks likely to become a regular fixture.
The Mosgiel man has been training for 18 months for the event, while the firefighters used it as build-up towards the Firefighter Sky Tower Challenge in Auckland next month.
Mr Carvalho swam 650m in the Cromwell pool, cycled 24km from Cromwell to Clyde and finished with a 12.5km run from the Clyde Fire Station to the Alexandra Fire Station.
At the same time, multisport athlete Jeff Walker, of Cromwell, and firefighters David Holden and Ben Wilson (Cromwell), Mark Hutton, Enoka Waitoa and Phil McKenzie (Alexandra) mountain-biked across the Cairnmuir range from Cromwell to Clyde and then ran from Clyde to Alexandra.
"Without Brodie, this wouldn't have happened. It was a great challenge and he's an exceptional fellow," Alexandra firefighter Mark Templeton said.
Mr Templeton co-ordinated the event, which was a fundraiser for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation, as was the Sky Tower Challenge.
The $1000 prizemoney from an anonymous donor for Saturday's event had been donated to the foundation.
He hoped the Central Otago triathlon would continue to grow so that other members of the public joined the firefighters in coming years.
"It's such a good event it deserves to go to the wider public, and I think we'll get even more people along."
Mr Carvalho, who has Down's syndrome, said the running leg of the triathlon was the most difficult.
He was pleased at completing the race in 3hr 18min and said his next focus would be a skiing event for which he would start training in May.
His training partner and coach, Dunedin firefighter Richard Yardley, who accompanied Mr Carvalho on the race, said the triathlon was the culmination of a "huge" training programme.
"Brodie ran the Clyde to Alexandra track at New Year and cut his time for it in half on Saturday."
