Harriet Steele, pictured with partner Roy Sparey, is one of two 2025 Ironman NZ Tony Jackson Scholars.
Harriet Steele, pictured with partner Roy Sparey, is one of two 2025 Ironman NZ Tony Jackson Scholars.
A Kerikeri-raised police officer is one of two national recipients of the Ironman NZ Tony Jackson Scholarship, despite having to battle cancer for much of the year.
Ironman NZ has announced Harriet Steele and Justin Tito as the two recipients of the 2025 Tony Jackson Scholarship. They will receive support in pursuit of their dream to race and finish the Ironman New Zealand season.
The annual scholarship offers a deserving athlete or athletes an event package, including entry and training benefits, to enable them to participate in the Anzco Foods Ironman NZ series.
It acknowledges his outstanding contribution and continues his passion of ‘paying it forward’; helping athletes achieve their goals irrespective of their athletic ability, personal challenges, background, age or gender.
Police officer Steele, who grew up in Kerikeri and now works in Bay of Plenty, was healthy, active, and 37 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in January.
Harriet Steele continued to work, play football and completed a trail race while undergoing chemotherapy to treat her cancer.
A fighter from before the diagnosis, she was determined to not let the cancer take more than she was willing to give.
During chemotherapy, she continued to work full time, play football, and completed a trail running race. Still Steele sought something more, something that would prove to herself and others that she would get the better of cancer, not the other way around.
And so, her bucket list goal of completing an Ironman was brought forward.
“There’s a few reasons why I felt like now was the time for me to take on an Ironman,” she said.
“I’ve always wanted to participate in an Ironman, and I guess my journey over the last 10 months has shown me that you never know what tomorrow brings and it’s important to live for now.
“I feel like completing an Ironman on the back of my treatment will mean so much more to me and prove that I’m stronger than I think.
“I also wanted to flip this journey on its head and get something positive out of it. By doing this I can use it to create awareness and hopefully raise some money for cancer research.
“It might sound a bit cliche, but cancer impacts so many families and I feel a pull to use my experience to uplift others. I’ve been gifted the privilege of life, and I want my journey to mean something, something positive.”
Despite an incredibly hard first half of 2024, Steele continues to display a positive attitude and dedicate her time to those who need it most, an attribute that Tony Jackson lived by.
From fundraising for a colleague whose cancer treatment wasn’t funded to sitting with other chemo patients during their treatment, volunteering at Park Run, and working at the Adam’s Academy, her time is her gift.
She has also set the goal of fundraising $20,000 for breast cancer research.
“I have to be honest, I’m equally terrified and excited to be taking on an Ironman. It’s a pretty lofty goal, but when I think about Tony and his journey, I feel incredibly honoured to be a Tony Jackson scholar,” Steele said
“The day I found out about the scholarship I had also received some bad news about an ex-colleague. When I was congratulated for becoming a scholarship recipient, I cried. I just felt like this scholarship gives me a chance to do something good with my journey and for it all to mean something.”
