Five rugby figures with strong All Blacks and Crusaders connections, are joining forces for a remarkable fundraising mission at this year’s New York City Marathon.
Join the RUCK’s WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. The quintet aim to raise at least $125,000 for Christchurch-based Te Tahi Youth. Crusaders Team Manager Aaron “Webby” Webb will take on the iconic 42.2km race alongside former All Blacks captain Kieran Read, Crusaders centurion Ryan Crotty, former Crusader and All Black Colin Slade, along with Aaron Webb's long-time friend Shane Thrower.
Whilst not a former Crusaders or All Blacks player, Shane Thrower's involvement within the race is all the more important. For Thrower, the marathon represents a remarkable chapter in a recovery journey which began more than two decades ago. In 2003, he was struck by a car travelling at more than 100km/h while preparing for the
New Zealand Ironman, suffering a traumatic brain injury, multiple broken bones and spending four days in a coma.
He was subsequently forced to relearn how to walk, talk and navigate everyday life. "I had to relearn how to talk, walk, social behaviours, everything,"
Thrower also suffered significant memory loss and was warned by a doctor that he may never work or compete in sport again.
"I had a doctor in hospital that told me I'd never work or play sport at a competitive level again. I quickly named him ‘Dr Never’ and set one of my first goals and was determined to prove him wrong.”
More than 20 years later, Thrower is preparing to run one of the world's most famous marathons after completing a remarkable endurance journey which has included 270km ultras in Iceland and African deserts. "I saw it as a positive because it really inspired me to beat the odds."
Rugby legends rally behind Te Tahi Youth
The group’s fundraising will support Te Tahi Youth, which provides free medical, mental health, employment and social support services to young people aged 10 to 24 across Canterbury. Thrower has spent much of his own career supporting young people, working in the prison service before retraining as a teacher to help young people before they reached crisis point.
"I wanted to help them experience positive life skills and opportunities so they could make better choices for their road ahead. I love seeing the best come out in people. I think everyone's got something that they can give in life and I love helping bring that out in people and when their eyes light up, it's just the best feeling.”
His connection with Webb goes back more than two decades, with the pair first meeting while working at the Kimihia Adventure Programme, supporting young people who were struggling with mainstream education.
Webb says Thrower was an obvious choice when the opportunity to run the New York Marathon for Te Tahi Youth arose.
"Shane's a real inspiration." He said. "He's got an amazing backstory, but he's one of the most positive people I've ever met in my life. He's inspired me to do some things that I probably never thought I could do, and I've seen him inspire young people to go further than they probably ever thought they could.”
The former Crusaders Team Manager says seeing Thrower’s recovery and impact on others has left a lasting impression.
“It's just so inspirational to watch somebody go through relearning how to live, but at the same time be so positive, so enthusiastic, so motivated, and then transfer that onto other people, it's a very humbling experience to see happen.”
'Someone in your corner'
For Webb, the work of Te Tahi Youth is particularly important because of the support it provides to young people who may otherwise be navigating difficult circumstances alone.
"If you've got someone that can inspire you, can guide you, can put the bumpers out when you might be going the wrong way and turn you the right way, it's just so important. It's hard to do on your own when you're a teenager, you need someone in your corner."
Read was also quick to join the fundraising effort, with Thrower’s story immediately resonating with the former All Blacks captain. "Shane's so inspiring. For a guy who's been through so much in the past, you see him now and he's full of life,"
Te Tahi Youth’s mission made the decision to participate an easy one.
"Te Tahi Youth is an amazing wraparound service here in Christchurch that do everything for young people who perhaps don't have as much help as they need. So, it was a pretty easy yes once the charity angle came into it and they asked if we were happy to be involved."
New facility could transform support for young people
The fundraising will also contribute towards a new East Christchurch clinical facility for Te Tahi Youth. The project requires a further $150,000-$170,000 to be completed and will feature four medical consultation rooms, alongside dedicated spaces for social workers and counsellors. The demand for the charity’s services is already enormous.
"Last year we saw just over 1,700 young people in total across all our services," Te Tahi Youth General Manager Fiona Kay said.
"Unfortunately, at the current time we do have to decline over 60% of the young people who seek access to our medical services."
The new facility is intended to help address that growing demand and provide more young people with access to support.
Clinical Nurse Manager Jo Kirrane says the impact of that work can be profound. "We meet some of the most vulnerable young people and it's watching the support we can give them so that they can grow, and go on and do great things, that is the most rewarding,"
'If we can put ourselves through a bit of pain'
The marathon itself will inevitably bring some pain, but the five runners know their challenge is about something considerably bigger than simply completing 42.2 kilometres.
"We're just hugely appreciative of it," Kay said. "They're giving up a huge amount of their time to do this for us and putting themselves in a really challenging situation. We often say to our young people it's a marathon, not a sprint, and these guys are literally doing that."
Webb summed up the motivation behind the entire project simply: "If we can put ourselves through a bit of pain to help someone else go through less pain, then why wouldn't you?"
And while there will undoubtedly be some competitive spirit among the former rugby stars, Read insists the fundraising remains the ultimate goal. "We're going to go through 42.2 kilometres of a bit of hurt, I'm sure,"
"But at the end of the day, it's for a really awesome reason. If we can raise as much money as we can for Te Tahi Youth, that'll make every step worth it."
For Thrower, every kilometre represents something more personal Once told he might never work or compete in sport again, the former adventure racer will soon find himself standing on the start line of the New York City Marathon alongside some of New Zealand rugby’s biggest names.
And whatever happens on the streets of New York, his journey has already proved that 'Dr Never' was wrong.
LATEST RUGBY NEWS
