At the end of 2025, we said a warm goodbye to our long-time account manager, Briony O’Farrell, as she set off on an exciting new adventure beyond our office. Briony has been part of the Mountain Adventure family for many years, bringing her bubbly, friendly, knowledgeable, and endlessly helpful self to every corner of the office, our partners, and our customers. While some will remember her for her infectious energy, others will know her as a familiar face in the running community, where she has steadily inspired connection, friendship, and a love of the outdoors.
From a girl without proper running shoes, Briony gradually grew into a seasoned runner—tackling running events, embracing running groups, and showing up for parkruns. Together with her partner Dave, she now co-directs Riverlution parkrun—an event that brings people together, encourages everyone to get moving, and gives back to the local Red Zone.
On her last day at Mountain Adventure, we reflected on her running journey, her love for the outdoors, and the way her passion for community continues to flourish. Thanks for everything, legend! We wish you all the best and we’ll see you out on the trails!
From summer camp to the outdoors industry
I’ve always worked in environments with active people. Whether that was retail, wholesale, or earlier on when I worked in outdoor instructing. It all started when I was 16, growing up in the UK. At 16, you finish school and then go to college, but there’s a long summer break. I remember thinking, “What do I do?”
I ended up volunteering at a summer camp, kind of like a YMCA camp, with all sorts of activities. That was my first real exposure to outdoor activities as something people do as a hobby. I’d grown up adventuring with my parents, but I didn’t realise people actually worked in rock climbing, kayaking, abseiling, sailing… That experience really stuck with me.
After studying Outdoor and Recreation in the UK, I got a job at an activity centre, eventually becoming a senior instructor. After moving to New Zealand, I briefly worked in casual retail before starting at a YMCA activity centre on Banks Peninsula, at Wainui Park.
Discovering outdoor gear
It was heaps of fun, but also very seasonal work. Summer camps were busy, but in winter there wasn’t much work unless you were lucky enough to be kept on for site maintenance. So I moved into outdoor retail where I started working as a trainee manager.
During that time, I was dabbling in running here and there, but nothing serious. I don’t even think I owned proper running shoes—I was just running in whatever I had.
One day I got a call from the previous owner of Mountain Adventure, asking if I’d be interested in a wholesale role. This gave me my first experience in outdoor wholesale. It was also my first exposure to La Sportiva, and that’s where I really started learning about brands and the industry long-term.
First running event
In between my Mountain Adventure role, I briefly worked for another wholesaler that represented a running shoe brand. That’s when I thought: okay, maybe I need to start taking running a bit more seriously.
Not long after, I signed up for my first event, which was City to Surf. It’s a fun run in Christchurch that starts in the Square and heads out toward New Brighton. It’s a relatively short and fun run—people bring their kids, dress up in costumes, and locals stand outside cheering as you run past their houses. I absolutely loved it. That was what really got me hooked and caught me up in the buzz of doing an event.
The shift to the trails
Road runs are fine, but trail running takes you to some beautiful parts of the country you might never otherwise see. I’d always enjoyed hiking and being in the hills, so eventually I tried my first trail race. I think it was the 12km course at Race Tekapo. I was quite intimidated by the big hill, but my friends I was running with pulled me through. And when I reached the top of Mount John and looked out over the snow-covered mountains and the blue lake, I just thought: yeah, this is worth the hard slog up the hill. It really felt like this was where I was meant to be.
From then on, I kept signing up for trail running events and, with a bit of healthy peer pressure, gradually increased my distances.
The biggest impact
Eventually, I decided to join a run club, and this truly made the biggest impact on my running. I joined the Frontrunner Colombo Run Club in 2020, and I remember sitting in my car on the first night, looking at all these slim, short-shorts-wearing athletic women with sun-kissed skin and thinking: this is not me. What am I doing here? I was sooo close to driving away. But I forced myself to push through.
Later, I found out some of my closest running friends, who I met during that season, were doing exactly the same thing—sitting in their cars thinking they didn’t belong.
Joining that run club was great, and what helped was that there were different pace groups. The beginner group was almost a walk-run group. The pace leader—a giant, guy with a heart of gold—was actually a slow runner, and it completely blew my mind. I realised jogging still counts as running. You don’t have to go all out and as fast as you can. Slow running is still running. That mindset shift changed everything for me.
Community and consistency
I stayed in that group for the whole season. I’d jog, walk if I needed to, but I was part of the community, and that mattered. Gradually, each season I kept coming back and kept seeing the same people. Over time, friendships formed. The running scene became a social scene. I found my tribe. And hey, you progress! Now we laugh about how thrilled we were to hit 7:30 per kilometre. At the time it felt huge. Looking back, you can really see the progression over the years!
I also joined the Live to Run Trail Group because I wanted to connect more with the hills. Again, different levels, lots of stopping, chatting, and no one gets left behind. And running in the Port Hills, so close to the city, is simply incredible.
Having Frontrunner on Tuesdays and Live to Run on Thursdays gave me consistency and ownership. My friends were there. I couldn’t let them down. Running became a habit—a part of my normal weekly rhythm.
Discovering parkrun
The flipside of my job as a sales rep and account manager was that I was often away during the week and wouldn’t always make it to run clubs. And often I’d come home late, so Saturdays were my lie-in mornings.
Friends kept telling me about parkrun and constantly inviting me to come along. It starts at 8am, I thought. No way! Saturday morning is my time. There is no way I’m getting up.
Eventually, peer pressure won again. My first parkrun was in May 2023 at Broad Park near North New Brighton. It was freezing cold and I didn’t know anyone, so once again, I felt a bit lost.
Then, out of nowhere, appeared my friend Bartosz, loudly announcing: “Briony! Briony—parkrun virgin. Parkrun virgin spotted right here!” I was so embarrassed! But at least I was with someone I knew. So I ran the course with him, and that was it. It got me hooked.
I think it’s pretty cool—you get your 5km done early, and the whole day is still ahead of you. That was another huge mindset shift for me. You don’t necessarily have to sleep in to have an awesome day. So parkrun every Saturday morning became a new routine for me. Broad Park became my home parkrun. I connected with the parkrun legends, got to know the community, and started volunteering.
Parkrun is entirely volunteer-run—without volunteers, events can’t happen. And it’s an awesome, free event that had such a huge positive impact on my life, so I felt the urge to give back.
A new parkrun in the Red Zone
Parkrun is a global event, and eventually there was talk of worldwide expansion. The organisation wanted to double the number of parkruns around the world within five years.
With this in mind, Lisa, the co-event director at Broad Park—who also became a friend of mine— and Callum from Scarborough parkrun had the idea of starting a new parkrun in the Red Zone. For those who might not know, this is the area heavily affected by the earthquakes, where a lot of houses were taken down. Now it’s more like a nature reserve with a river running through it.
But as event directors of an already existing parkruns, Lisa and Callum couldn’t take on a new one—because you’re only allowed to be an event director of one parkrun. So they needed event directors to make this new one happen.
A perfect match
Lisa knew that Dave and I lived near the Red Zone and had been using it for years for walking and exercise, so she encouraged us to take it on. That area truly has a deep meaning for us—not only because of what happened in the past, but because both of us also used it for our own personal fitness journey. Dave lost over 40 kg of weight, and it all started with walking in the Red Zone. On a bad day, we’d just go for a short walk along the river, and it would instantly make us feel better.
Starting a parkrun there felt really special. Almost like a no-brainer.
The road along the river
There’s a lot involved in starting up a parkrun. A looooot more than people think, and both Lisa and Callum have been amazing in kinda mentoring us through it. There was lots of paperwork, safety checks, applications… But eventually, we just picked Sunday 8 June 2025 as our trial, so everything had to be ready by then.
There are also very particular rules for parkrun courses. You can’t be on a road or anywhere near a road, and it must be exactly 5km. So if you have an idea, you have to map it out on Google Maps, film the whole course with a GoPro, and submit that to parkrun for approval.
Our very personal touch was that we wanted the course to follow the river and include a bridge so runners could see each other on both sides… maybe wave to each other. That social element was really important to us.
What’s in a name…
Naming it took a while. The original name was set as Avebury House Parkrun, after one of the old heritage homes in the area. But at the start and finish, you actually can’t see the house. So eventually, we settled on Riverlution parkrun. It has “river” in it, so it’s a play on the word, references community change, and ties in with Riverlution Café, which supports the local community garden. And it also added another “R” to the parkrun alphabet challenge in New Zealand—Riverlution is the only “R” on the South Island. So that’s pretty cool!
Beyond the imaginable
We only expected a handful of friends, but to our surprise, about 70–80 people showed up on a freezing morning to do the trail run. And the feedback was really, really good. People absolutely loved it. Our first official event was Saturday 14 June. Once again, we expected maybe 80–100 people but ended up with 443 participating. It simply blew our minds!
Since then, it’s gone incredibly well—heaps better than we could ever imagine. We’ve averaged around 280 runners every week. People visit from all over New Zealand and even internationally, and the feedback has been amazing. We’ve even been featured in The Press.
For me, bringing something positive and community-focused back into an area so desecrated by Mother Nature—and now a hive of activities and smiles—has been the cherry on top of the cake. Maybe it’s even the most rewarding part.
Another thing I’d emphasize: parkrun is for everyone—walkers, runners, kids, seniors… you can even bring your dog on a short leash. Our fastest finisher did 15:15. Our slowest took an hour and 40 minutes. And that’s fine! You’re never the last person, by the way. We always have tail walkers.
Giving back once more
What most people probably don’t know about Briony is that she is a part-time reo Māori teacher who is incredibly passionate about Māori culture and language. When I asked Briony about this part of her life, the spark in her eyes told the story before she did.
Learning and teaching te reo Māori has been another important part of my life. I wasn’t born in New Zealand, but it has always been part of my life through family here. When I finished my outdoor diploma in the UK, I came over and thought: sweet, this is where I wanna be! But when you choose to make a country your home, I think you should learn not just its culture, but also its language.
Learning about the history of te reo Māori and how it was suppressed made me feel sad, but also responsible. I mean… maybe not my direct ancestors, but at least my people colonised this country and tried to take away something that is so important. Learning te reo Māori is kinda my way of giving back and showing respect.
Use it or lose it
I started studying reo Māori in 2015 and continued part-time for eight years. When I completed all the part-time courses I could find, my next option was to go to uni full-time. At that point, I wasn’t ready to commit to something that big, as I was working full-time. But as soon as you stop using a language, you lose it. It’s like a muscle.
While searching for what was next, I realised I maybe had enough knowledge to teach the basics. It was scary, but I put a few feelers out and, ironically, the people who got back to me were from the same place where I first started my journey!
Full circle back
That led me full circle, back to the place where I first learned, offering me a part-time tutor role. I’ve been doing this part-time for a couple of years now and I’m absolutely loving it. So I think I’ve found another passion alongside the outdoor industry and running.
Currently, I’m working on a Level 5 Certificate in Adult Tertiary Teaching to complement what I’ve been doing, as I essentially became a tutor with aaaabsolutely no experience or qualifications. They just had faith; they took me on and it all worked out. But now it’s time to put some important things on paper.
It really feels like another chapter opening. I don’t know exactly where it will lead, but I’m excited to see what opportunities come up next.
Give It Up for Briony!
We’ve always known Briony as a passionate advocate for the Gut Cancer Foundation, faithfully taking on Give It Up every March, year after year. And this year is no different. For a whole month, she’s going without alcohol, sugar, and coffee, while also tackling the Summit Challenge to raise funds for the Himalayan Trust’s vital work in Solukhumbu. Two incredible foundations, supported by one truly incredible human. We have nothing but respect for the dedication and heart she brings to both.
Curious about the charities and keen to give Briony a well deserved thumbs up? Check out the links below.
https://www.giveitup.nz/briony-o-farrell
https://summitchallenge.org/briony-o-farrell
