Setup your team, individual or corporate fundraising page.
Distance
29,525 km
36,000 km Goal
Fundraisers
860
Donations
$ 40,517
01 - 30 April 2025
Get moving for your mates
Sign up
Sign up as an individual, team or corporate/pre-paid team entry.
Get set up
Set up your profile and fundraising target, and then share it far and wide
Make your moves
Run, ride, swim, walk or wheel your way to legend status. Every little bit counts.
Tell the world
Share your progress with your crew and watch those donations mosey on in.
This April, we're bringing mates together to raise awareness for mental health and suicide prevention across the construction industry. We set out to cover 5 Long Laps to acknowledge the industry losing a worker to suicide every five days.
We passed that on Day 10! So we're setting our sights on 9 Long Laps.
Sign up to run, ride, swim, walk or wheel and every kilometre you track contributes to our goal of traversing New Zealand 9 times.
- Register as a team or individual for $40 per person – cost includes MATES Merch delivered to you.
Help MATES raise awareness about mental health and suicide prevention in our industry and fundraise while we’re at it.
What is MATES Long Lap?
- MATES Long Lap is an event held during the full month of April to raise awareness about mental health and suicide in our industry.
- It is a virtual event so all our mates across New Zealand can join in - Walk, run, ride, swim or wheel.
- Set your own goal of how many kilometres you hope to achieve.
- Track your distance using Fitbit or Strava or manually entering your kms via the website.
- No obstacles – for the serious athletes and the getting-started-athletes.
- Create a team and make the time to check-in on your mates.
- Improve not only your physical health but mental health as well.
- Share your progress journey and why your doing it with friends & family.
The Challenge
- The Long Pathway or ‘Te Araroa Trail’ the Long Lap is based off is 3,000 kms long!
- This year we are aiming for 5 laps to acknowledge the industry losing a life to suicide every five days.
- 500 people walking 1km every day through April should see us reach our target (with the help of a few cyclists and runners in the mix).
Fundraising
- 100% of funds raised (including the registration fee) will go to MATES in Construction NZ.
- Fundraising is an essential part of funding MATES so we can put more boots on the ground, improving mental health and preventing suicide in our industry.
How it works
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Connect your Strava or Fitbit device or the Long Lap Tracker App to the platform – it’s ok if you don’t have these as you can track your distance through the health app on your smart phone and manually enter (km per day or per week).
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Work out your goals: distance and fundraising target. eg target km for the month.
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01 April – get outside and start moving.
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Share your page to help find sponsors and let your friends know what you’re doing.
- Watch your distance and funds raised grow both on your page and the overall totals/lap distance on this event page.
- As we virtually travel around New Zealand - 5,000 kms per lap, the progress bar above will show our progress working toward 5 laps.
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Share your journey – videos, reels, stories, photos using #mateslonglap25
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30 April, 2025 is the last day of tracking distance.
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Fundraising will close May 14, 2025.
Distance Leaderboards
Fundraising Leaderboards
The Problem
Suicide is a workplace safety issue that demands the attention of everyone in our industry: the same as putting on hard hats and work boots, checking in with our mates should be just as routine.
The statistics are tough – Construction workers are 9X more likely to die by suicide than a workplace accident. While there were more suicides by men in our industry, women attempt more often, while our young workers are at even higher risk.
However, research has found the work we are all doing is making a difference.
Mates
Established in 2008 in Australia to address the high levels of suicide among construction workers, MATES was brought over to New Zealand in 2019 to address the same problem.
Now in our fifth year in Aotearoa, MATES serves the construction industry nation-wide, providing evidence based training on worksites, and providing professional support through Case Management and 24/7 support to workers and their whānau through our Helpline.
