TVNZ Breakfast team take on triathlon for fun

TVNZ’s Breakfast team are preparing to boldly go where ….. no Breakfast team have gone before!

Toni Street, Rawdon Christie and Sam Wallace have committed to going from the couch to the Auckland CBD in the Barfoot & Thompson sprint triathlon on Sunday April 7, part of the weekend of action that includes the opening round of the ITU World Triathlon Series.

And it is fair to say the fearless trio are not only going out of their comfort zone but they are representative of a wide range of New Zealanders who have already or are going to give the sport a go, putting aside nerves and any misgivings in an attempt at a team triathlon.

Weatherman Sam Wallace is perhaps the ‘keenest’ of the three; he will bring the team home with a 5km run.

“I was lucky enough to host the Triathlon on TV One last year, and I loved every minute of it,” says Wallace.  “This year I’m giving it ago and really looking forward to seeing how I measure up.  It’s really neat to be participating in an international Triathlon on the same course at the professional triathletes… and the cool thing is… anyone can!”

Street is leading the team off with the 750m swim from Queens Wharf and admits that Sam is the one motivating the team to train harder.

“The triathlon has been the hot topic of discussion at work, our weatherman Sam is cracking the whip to make sure we don’t ease up on the training!”

Street has a little extra motivation as well, as she uses the event as part of her post pregnancy fitness programme.

“I’m stoked we’ve decided to do the Auckland Tri, it’s certainly motivated me to squeeze in some training around looking after my baby.”

Christie is the joker in the pack and typically deflects his efforts with humour, albeit at the expense of his co-host Toni.

“The trouble with working with Toni Street is she gets me to do things I’ve never even considered doing before. I’ve never ridden a road bike, let alone entered a triathlon before, so whatever happens – I’ll blame her.”

Wallace reinforces Christie’s role in the team, suggesting the front man might have a little extra on his bike for the 20km ride through the Auckland CBD.

“I’m no triathlete but it’s been great doing it as a team.  If you aren’t pulling your weight with the training your team mates give you a bit of grief to keep you on task.  We have already had some pretty good laughs, mainly at Rawdon’s expense.  I’m pretty sure he’s going to do the cycle with a basket on the front of his bike.

“It’s been neat seeing how people stand up to the challenge though.  Toni is like me; she will do anything to win and is going in teeth showing.  Rawdon on the other hand is fluffing about like a faff!  If we lose this, it will be Rawdon’s fault. And he will hear about it for a long time.”

Word is the challenge has taken on a life of its own in the TVNZ studio’s with reports that a news team led by Peter Williams is also lining up, with the threat of a producers team also in the air.

Anyone can still enter any of the events on offer, from the twilight swim run on the Friday night, to the 5km Brunch Fun Run on the Saturday morning, to the two triathlon distances (sprint and standard) with a team option on the Sunday.

The message from organisers is that anyone can take part ‘from the couch’ with the range of easily achievable events and distances with the 5km fun run taking on the same run course that the elite athletes will speed up and down on Saturday afternoon.

Entry and course details here