'I still remember the policeman coming up the drive that evening,” says Greg Rieger. 'It was the moment that changed our lives forever.”

It was the night police came to tell him his boy, Hamish, was missing.

The moment every parent fears had become reality for Greg and Donna Rieger.

Their spirited, downright cheeky, full-of-life, 17-year-old son was gone. Gone, but never forgotten.

'He just lived life,” says mum Donna.

That was his catch phrase. 'He was hell bent on living life,” says Greg, 'and he gave it his all in his 17-and-a-half years, living it to the max – at 100 miles an hour. There was only one thing in his life and that was to have a huge amount of fun.”

Donna and Greg Rieger. Photo: Jamie Troughton, Dscribe Media Services.

He was charming, good looking and smiled an unforgettable smile. It's a grin that gleams from a picture frame on the family's dining room table, taken one week before Hamish's life was tragically cut short.

On January 23, 2016, after finished patrol with the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service, Hamish joined throngs of spectators watching the large surf at the blowhole on the end of Moturiki (Leisure) Island. A rogue wave came higher than the others, snatching Hamish and taking him out to sea.

His body was found less than a day later, by some of the dozens of surf lifesavers who turned out to search for one of their own.

In the face of the tragic incident, there was an outpouring of support for the Rieger family – Greg, Donna and Hamish's siblings Oliver, Fergus and Eliza-Jane remain a family heavily involved in the surf lifesaving and wider Mount Maunganui communities.

Despite the sadness of having to say goodbye to their son much too early, Greg and Donna are giving something back to those who supported them, through a fundraising project that would have been close to Hamish's heart.

On May 6, they'll attempt the Rotorua Half Marathon – the first of 12 half-marathons in 12 months to raise funds for the ‘I Ride With Hame' project. All money raised will be used to create scholarships for the Spirit of Adventure Trust which Hamish went on in 2015, just five months before his death.

When Hamish returned from his Spirit of Adventure trip, he was a different person, says Donna. 'He came back more determined and more focused.”

He climbed on board what he called the 'health train”. Cupboards were emptied, dad's cigars were thrown out and he'd decided he'd run the 2016 Rotorua Half Marathon.

But fate intervened. In honour of their son, Greg and Donna chose to walk the 21km last year, while his entry was transferred to a close friend.

This year, they will run the half marathon – and complete 11 more.

After Rotorua, the Riegers will target the Mount Joggers Half Marathon on Queen's Birthday Weekend, June 4.

The Spirit of Adventure ship is expected to dock in Mount Maunganui that weekend, weather allowing, while all surf lifesaving clubs have been invited to don their club shirts during the 21km as a tribute to Hamish.

Another of the 12 half-marathons will include the Mount Maunganui Half Marathon on August 26 which goes from Golden Sands School to the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service, where Hamish was a member.

'I'm challenging all teachers and staff at Tahatai Coast School and all of the schools that Hamish went to, Mount Maunganui Primary School, Mount Maunganui Intermediate, and Mount Maunganui College, to join in and walk or run one of the distances available and gather sponsors,” says Greg.

In exchange for entries, Greg hopes to gain entry sponsorship for each race.

'I'm not there to break a record. The aim is to complete them,” says Greg. 'I've got my motivation with me, my laminated photo of Hamish. He comes with me wherever I go when I go for a run.”

Greg says it's the little things that trigger memories of his son. 'I don't think there would be a day go by that if I get a quiet moment at work where I think about him. The silliest little things will trigger you to suddenly sit down and think.

'In my case it's scooters. Hamish used to scream along on this scooter of his. I was at the surf lifesaving nationals recently and this kid went past and I thought, ‘Bloody hell that's Hamish'.”

How are they coping? 'You don't,” says Greg. 'But you don't stop because of it.”

'It's a huge reality check, that's for sure. You certainly find out what your priorities are.”

'To be honest, you just take one hour, one day, one month, one year at a time,” explains Donna. 'That's the only way you can cope with it. It's just a reality of living day by day.”

'It's not a race,” says Greg. 'In Hamish's situation it was solely an accident. There is absolutely zero we can do about it.

'For sure, we could've become snails and gone and lived in a shell. But we've still got Oliver, Fergus and Eliza-Jane. They're still very much there and we've still got to help and support them in everything they want to do. You just carry on but you've always constantly got him in your mind,” says Greg.

The squeak of Hamish's rubber chicken ‘Chicken Joe' still lingers in the family home.

'You'd be lying around in bed at 5'o'clock in the morning, he'd be going to work and he'd go around squeaking the chicken, thinking that was great fun.”

And Hamish had fun. Fun like the time he etched his name into the wet concrete at his grandparents' house.

'He was up at a sparrow's fart helping build a concrete path for Grandma so she didn't get her feet wet to go and put the washing out – and when they weren't looking he goes and writes his name in the concrete. So now every time Grandma and Grandpa walk down the steps, they see this great big Hamish in the concrete.”

A cheeky prank that now acts as an epitaph.

Hamish would never say no to anybody. 'He was very generous,” says Donna.

There was the man in the twin towers who fell and injured himself. Hamish was close by, working his after school job at Sidetrack Café, and immediately stepped in to provide first aid.

'That's Hamish.”

He gave up school for the day to go and help look for Jack Dixon, the five-year-old boy swept away from around the side of Mauao amid heavy surf in October, 2014.

'He'd do anything for anybody.”

And behind his effervescent demeanor, he was fully immersed in school life. Late last year, Hamish graduated with distinction, posthumously, from Year 13 at Mount Maunganui College. His parents accepted his certificate in front of a school assembly on their son's behalf.

'That was one of the hardest things we've ever had to do,” says Greg. 'But so, so special.”

A cabinet representing Hamish's passions - including student ID cards, a toy IRB, club cap, some photos and a voucher to an unlimited amount of biscuit slice - has been put in front of the senior school library. The college has also retired the No 2 water polo cap, which Hamish wore.

Greg and Donna's fundraising project, running 12 half-marathons for Hamish's trust in support of the Spirit of Adventure, is the family's way of thanking the community for their endless generosity.

Donna points to a large pile of cards on a bookcase in their living room, cascading off one shelf onto another.

'Emotionally, it was so overwhelming and there was absolutely no way we could reply individually to all those people who got in touch with us, who sent us cards and expressed their sympathy. It showed us this was not only our loss but the community's loss too and this fundraiser is one way Greg, Oliver, Fergus, Eliza-Jane and I can say thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.”

To support the fundraiser, donate direct to ‘I Ride With Hame' ASB 12-3011-0461607-52. All funds go towards the Spirit of Adventure Trust.

To join the Riegers by doing any of the 12 half-marathons, contact Greg via the Facebook page ‘I Ride With Hame'.

Greg and Donna Rieger entrusted SunMedia journalist Zoe Hunter exclusively to tell their story of loss, how they're dealing with it and the community's support.