IRONMAN Insights: race recap

Taupō gave us near perfect racing conditions on the weekend for ANZCO Foods IRONMAN New Zealand. The ANZCO Foods race team did everyone proud, with 100% of our athletes completing the course. It was great to see that unique IRONMAN blend of joy, relief and exhaustion etched on faces as they crossed the finish line.

For the record, our ANZCO crew women’s champion in the 70.3 half distance event was Cherie Richardson from the Business Improvement team, with Rose Cottier from the Livestock team and Annabel Heney from HR coming in second and third respectively.

On the men’s side, Will Thompson led the ANZCO 70.3 field home, ahead of James Blackstock, both of whom are part of the ANZCO Livestock team, with Nathan Donald from the Business Improvement team taking out third place.

In the main event, Jacob Moore, once again representing the Livestock team, is the ANZCO crew's full IRONMAN champion for 2026. There was a head-to-head battle for second and third in the full IRONMAN, finally seeing just 300 metres and less than two minutes separating both athletes after 11 hours 20 minutes and 226 km of racing, with Jesse Rhodes from our Kōkiri site taking third spot behind some slightly more experienced legs in second.

We were also very proud to be associated with Cystic Fibrosis NZ and Kirsty Parsons, who was aiming to be the first Kiwi with Cystic Fibrosis to complete a full distance IRONMAN on Saturday. Kirsty achieved her goal in less than 15 hours and is well on her way to also achieving her fundraising goal for Cystic Fibrosis NZ with support from ANZCO Foods.

ANZCO Foods IRONMAN New Zealand is an amazing event and experience for athletes and spectators alike. It was great this year to have representatives in our team from Sales and Marketing, Livestock, Business Improvement, Human Resources, Technology, Logistics, Payroll, our Kōkiri and Canterbury sites, as well as ELT members and of course our CEO. If you are contemplating getting in the mix for March 2027 but have concerns or doubts, then don’t hesitate to reach out to GM Sales and Marketing Rick Walker or the 2026 team captains, Cherie Richardson and Jason King. There will be limited spots available for 2027, but we'll be prioritising first time entrants, so we'd love to help you become an IRONMAN!