For The Team

Director's Statement

When our producer, Rusty Chadwick, first introduced me to the world of adventure racing and the New Zealand adventure racing team, I thought I understood a little about what it meant to push myself to the limits -- physically and emotionally. Months later, standing on the top of the highest point of the Indian Ocean, completely exhausted after hours of hard climbing, my paradigm was shattered as I watched Team Avaya take the same climb that emptied us in stride as only 4 hours of a 100-hour race. In that moment, I realized just how much further a person can go than they think they can when they face the challenges in front of them as a team. Our film is a love letter to suffering with purpose. One title we even considered early on was “The Practice of Not Quitting,” and that practice, for each other, is fundamentally what high performance teams are all about. We hope that everyone who watches this film is humbled by Fleur Pawsey’s understated courage, inspired by Nathan Fa’avae’s leadership, and awed by the overwhelming beauty of Reunion Island and the South Island of New Zealand.