Team Search and Rescue - Racing The Planet NZ 2019

Conrad Smith, Marie Manley and Nico Fournier are three normal people with families, children and jobs (along with weird senses of humour and ideas of 'fun'...) who have signed up to complete a 250km, self supported ultra-marathon (ie everything on their backs, only hot water and empty tents are provided at end of each stage) from 3-9 March 2019.

More about the race can be found here https://www.4deserts.com/beyond/newzealand/, and more about our quirky team members and their progress at https://www.facebook.com/pg/teamsearchandrescue/posts/

All of our team have links to Search and Rescue in New Zealand, and Racing the Planet organisers have agreed to waive fees (approx $4,000 per person) for the team to complete this race, supporting the essential work that Search and Rescue organisations undertake in New Zealand.

The team have had a little over three months total to prepare for the race, research what they’ve got themselves into and to source the compulsory equipment.

Oh, and they met for a team for the first time only three weeks out from the race!

Team Search and Rescue are passionate about the NZ outdoors, and helping keep others safe.

The team are funding all of their own personal training, travel and equipment costs and are committed to raising awareness of Search and Rescue by completing this event. They are also fundraisingfor the two organisations they are involved with – Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation (RARO) and Taranaki LandSAR (TSAR) and as such any donations will be gratefully shared between both organisations.

RARO is a group of professionally trained alpine rescue personnel who provide specialist skills to assist lost, injured or trapped members of the public. They respond in all hours of the day and night, often in adverse weather conditions and work closely with other emergency services.

Funds raised by Team Search and Rescue will be part of RARO’s contribution to building a modern Emergency Management Centre in National Park Village. Within Tongariro National Park, this will assist the surrounding communities and serve one of the busiest National Parks in New Zealand which requires an average of 67 rescues per year.

TSAR members are trained and experienced field and incident management volunteers. They assist the New Zealand Police with Search and Rescue services from missing trampers and climbers in the Egmont National Park or the Taranaki bush, contribute to urban searches for missing children or people with dementia, as well as assisting the Coastguard by conducting shoreline searches. They respond in all weather, at any time day or night to help the lost, missing or injured.

An essential part of any operation is effective communication, both between both TSAR teams and also with other emergency services. Funds raised by TSAR will be utilised towards ensuring this communication is relevant and reliable through ongoing review of modern radios and radio repeaters throughout our region.

Taranaki LandSAR has agreed to forward half of the funds to Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation (RARO).