Hundreds of Tiwai staff and their families will take off the high vis and put on their running shoes, to take part in the annual ICC Surf to City on Sunday.

About 300 people have signed up from the New Zealand Aluminium Smelters’ Tiwai site, a mixture of staff and their families. It’s believed to be the largest number of ICC Surf to City entries to ever come from Tiwai.

NZAS chief executive Stewart Hamilton said encouraging staff to enter the ICC Surf to City was about engaging with staff and getting involved in the community.

All entry costs have been covered by Tiwai, and the company is also putting on a free barbecue for its entrants, and providing every entrant with a free t shirt.

The smelter has started a programme called Positioning for Success, which involves looking at how the organisation can develop new initiatives to continue to set the site up for success in the future. A large focus of this is engaging with staff, partners and the community, he said.

A large component of the programme is also based around workforce health and wellbeing, which fit well with the messaging behind the ICC Surf to City, Hamilton said.

Sport Southland chief executive Brendon McDermott said having such a large representation from Tiwai lining up for the ICC Surf to City demonstrated how important community events were in fostering a sense of belonging.

“This event is not just about getting people active, it’s about bringing people together, helping families have fun, and showing people that getting active doesn’t have to be difficult.”

“We are thrilled to have the support of the Tiwai community for this iconic Southland event and look forward to seeing all the blue t shirts lining up at the start lines.”

This year’s ICC Surf to City is to be held on Sunday March 10. There are 12km, 6km, and 3km bike, run, or walk options.

Online entries close on Friday March 8, but people can still manually enter on the day.

To enter or for more information visit www.surftocity.co.nz

Caption: NZAS commercial and support services manager Paula Checketts and NZAS chief executive Stewart Hamilton are getting ready to take part in Sunday's ICC Surf to City. Photo: Sport Southland

Article added: Tuesday 05 March 2019