Face of the Day

A 29-year-old endurance runner from Auckland has become the first person to run and hike the length of New Zealand and back on the Te Araroa trail.

Stefan Ozich set out on October 1, 2024 to raise awareness and funds for men’s mental health through a Givealittle page for the charity The Last Chance Project.

For Ozich, it’s personal – he lost his brother and a close friend to suicide in recent years.

Speaking to the Herald, he said it felt “surreal” to have achieved his goal.

“Relieved, grateful and very, very overwhelmed ... it was definitely an emotional explosion, let’s put it that way,” he said of reaching the lighthouse at Cape Reinga on January 22, where family and friends were waiting to meet him.

NZ Herald