Kaitaia College 'shining light' remembered with ultra-marathon

Te Amohaere Ella Kairua Rudolph (r) died from cancer, aged 18.

Te Amohaere Rudolph was energetically involved in Surf Life Saving, so 12 participants in the gruelling 62km Te Houtaewa ultra-marathon will be making a fitting tribute.

Te Amohaere died from hepatoblastoma, a malignant tumour in the liver, aged 18.

The former Kaitaia College head girl's second anniversary will be on Saturday, the same day as the Te Houtaewa Challenge on Te-Oneroa-a-Tōhē (90 Mile Beach).

Father Vincent Rudolph battled cancer at the same time as Te Amohaere, also known as TA. However, she fought with cancer for her entire 18 years of life, he said.

Despite this, Te Amohaere lived life to the full, getting involved in Surf Life Saving and St John. She also competed in the Smokefreerockquest.

On Saturday, 12 representatives of Far North REAP's alternative education will take part in the Te Houtaewa ultra-marathon, from the Bluff to Ahipara, in dedication to Te Amohaere. The runners will be known as the Alt-Ed Soldiers and for many, it will be the first time they have run 62km, Mr Rudolph said.

But he said it was a fitting tribute for TA, who asked to be remembered without sorrow in a poem she wrote in the last week of her life.

"Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away to the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we still are," the poem reads.

"Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference in your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

"Laugh as we always laughed, at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me. Let my name ever be the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effect, without a trace of shadow on it.

"Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight.

"I am but waiting for you. For an interval. Somewhere, very near. Just around the corner.
"All is well."