It's been a long time coming, nearly 30 years in fact. But finally, Mount Maunganui resident and The Breeze breakfast host Mark Eagle has reached the top of his personal Everest and won gold at the 2022 Oceania Karate Championships in New Caledonia.

His elation over the phone is evident, his voice full of pure joy. It's no wonder, as his is a massive achievement on top of combating Covid during the intense training period leading up to the competition.

'I'm so happy after all this time to get the gold,” says Mark, who has been doing karate for 36 years. A karate practitioner is called a karateka.

'As a kid I loved it. The first time I made the New Zealand team was 28 years ago, that was in Tahiti. I was stoked I had made the team then and even happier that I won a bronze medal there.”

He was only 21 years old at the time.

'Then the following year in 1995, I went to New Caledonia for the Oceanias again with the New Zealand team and won two bronze medals.”

Mark Eagle won gold at the 2022 Oceania Karate Championships in New Caledonia. Photo: Michel Paul/Photo Action.

That prized gold was still an unrealised aspiration.

'The next time I competed at Oceanias was four years ago in 2018 when they introduced the Veterans' division and guess what - I won a bronze medal.”

Last year the Oceania karate championships were cancelled, due to Covid.

'This year it was all a bit of a rush as it was supposed to be held last year but pushed to this year. And suddenly the borders were opened and holey moley we can go,” says Mark.

'I had a phone call about six weeks before saying I'd been selected, asking if I wanted to go, and I thought ‘let's do it!'”

He's been with his Auckland coach Duane Monk for over 20 years, usually visiting him in Auckland twice a month leading up to a competition. Duane comes down to Tauranga occasionally as well, Mark says.

'He's an amazing coach. I used to drive three hours each way to go up to Auckland and train with him. But I now train with him on Zoom.”

Mark Eagle won gold at the 2022 Oceania Karate Championships in New Caledonia. Photo: Michel Paul/Photo Action.

Mark's won the NZ national title in his age division 10 times now.

'That's the veterans' division 35 years and older. As far as Oceania goes, they only introduced the veterans' division four years ago.

He had just six weeks' notice to reach his peak for the competition and didn't take any time off work for training.

'I had Covid about six weeks ago and couldn't do any training for three weeks. I stopped training to get better but lost a lot of fitness. It really knocked me.”

The flight between New Zealand and New Caledonia takes place once a week on a Friday.

'We went on Friday last week to New Caledonia and the tournament started on Sunday and went to Monday. We had three hours of training the day before in 29 degree heat on the Saturday.”

A team of about 30 Kiwis also went to the tournament. Mark says in some countries like Iran, Türkiye, France and Spain, karate is the second national sport behind football.

'It's not that big here yet although we have incredibly talented people. It was an Olympic sport last year and we had one person from New Zealand competing.”

Two other Tauranga locals, both from Pāpāmoa, also did well at the competition. Connor Sharp, age 15, won bronze, and Sam Crawford, age 17, won two golds.

With his Kiwi team and family looking on, Mark seized his moment and gave it his all.

'The gold medal was very elusive. I trained like crazy and really had a belief I could do it this time,” says Mark.

And that's exactly what he did, 28 years after his first attempt at it.

'I was incredibly happy. It's the most amazing feeling being on the podium holding the New Zealand flag high, hearing the New Zealand anthem.”