Asher on the run for our waterways
For a man who admits he’s no athlete, Alex Asher has a suspiciously large grin as he clambers around the rocky coast.
Asher set off on January 3 from Wellington on the second half of a mission to run the coast of the North Island and swim the harbours in between, to raise money for the charity Sustainable Coastlines.
‘‘When I was backpacking around Mexico about six years ago I saw what happens when you don’t look after your coastline.’’
Asher, 32, is chairman of the charity, and says every cent raised will go towards its national waterways projects, which he said look different in every community.
Apprehensive about Whanganui with its ‘‘huge tides’’ and prominence of great white sharks, Asher’s armed himself with a shark shield.
It’s an electric leash that floats behind him and is designed to disrupt a shark’s senses. ‘‘I don’t think it’s an electric fence, but [to the shark] it’s sort of like – what’s happening here?’’
Beginning his second leg on the unforgiving Wellington coastline was an induction into what would follow, Asher said. ‘‘I had to go around the Makara coast and run a little bit of the coastal road until Boom Rock. All of those things are going to be bigger.’’
That first day, he ran about 45 kilometres from Wellington’s Wahine Memorial Park to Porirua, then swam to Titahi Bay. ‘‘This is my only claim to athleticism. I’m not an athlete on the side.’’
He described it as ‘‘the longest day in six years’’.
It’s not uncommon for him to run 40km in a day on an adventure but he rationalises it by saying: ‘‘It’s just four lots of 10km.’’
By yesterday, he had shot past New Plymouth, en route to Mokau. He expects it will take about five weeks to reach Cape Reinga.
Asher says one of Sustainable Coastlines’ greatest success was working with Puniu River Care in Waikato. With the help of the charity, Puniu planted 40,000 trees last year to restore the river catchment and surrounding environment.
You can track Alex online at trackme.kiwi or donate to him at givealittle. co.nz/fundraiser/ straittocape