Lazy Aucklanders urged to get moving

Fat, lazy and increasingly unhealthy. That's the worrying picture being painted of Aucklanders - now dubbed the laziest people in the country.

New research shows that, apart from 16 and 17-year-olds, activity levels for Aucklanders are below the national average.

The most worrying figures relate to the Pacific Island population, where 51 per cent of young Polynesians are "active" for less than 2.5 hours per week - while 23 per cent do no physical exercise at all. There are similar figures for the Asian population.

Experts are worried and are mounting a five-year strategy to turn Auckland from the laziest city in the country to the most active.

The draft Auckland Regional Sport and Recreation strategy is the brainchild of a working party comprising eight Auckland councils, four sports trusts, and government organisations. But there are enormous hurdles to overcome.

One of the key problems is that poorer people tend to exercise less than wealthier people - and a big percentage of Aucklanders live in low socio-exconomic areas, including one third of those in the Auckland and Counties District Health Board areas.

The chairman of the strategy committee, Colin Dale, said action was needed now to reverse the trends as long-term health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and strokes were an inevitable consequence.

"Our participation is declining, our clubs and organisations are struggling, health issues resulting from a lack of physical activity are on the rise, and there are gaps and duplication in delivery across the region," he said.

However, he accepted the reasons Aucklanders were not exercising would be difficult to resolve, especially with increased workloads, a lack of time and no childcare support. This was not helped by the fact clubs were finding it difficult to survive and deliver sustainable, high quality sport with funding, training of coaches and officials, plus management of common problems.

The strategy states a regional approach is needed to get Aucklanders active again as different areas have different strengths to share - especially relevant as people cross many city boundaries to work. Plans include creating a regional communication programme to promote action, plus a website with links to every club, sport and recreation venue for bookings and information.

The strategy also wants to remove barriers to people participating in sport and develop better pathways between early childhood, schools, sports clubs and community organisations.

Implementing all this will cost $2 million over five years, with the Government's recreation agency, Sparc, providing $1 million if that is matched by Auckland's councils and sports trusts.

The strategy's project team chair and Sport Auckland chief executive, Simon Peterson, is aware overcoming the obstacles to activity such as few childcare facilities and poor transport will not be easy.

"It may mean sports organisations have to look at different ways of providing their sport."

Promoting role models to work closely with youth, looking at ways to ease cost structures, and getting schools to emphasise the importance of activity were other solutions. Immigrant communities also needed to be encouraged to get involved in sports such as netball and rugby.

- Herald on Sunday