On track to get in shape

MARTIN JOHNSTON meets Christine Baber, one of 60 children selected for special training and dietary advice. The Herald will be following her progress.

Christine Baber wants to look like the other kids, and says she is sick of the unkind taunts thrown at her by some children.

The 11-year-old pupil of Randwick Park School in South Auckland says that she gets called "fatso and fatty, but I just ignore them - and I call them names back, too."

She is so keen to lose weight that she has plucked up courage to enter the Weet-Bix Kiwi Kids Tryathlon in Auckland next March.

She is among 60 children aged 8 to 14 picked for special training and dietary advice in a pilot programme started by food company Sanitarium and supported by the Hillary Commission.

The 60, who are all entered in one of the seven tryathlons being held around the country in February and March, were selected because they were not active enough or ate poorly.

The aim of the programme is to highlight the link between healthy eating, physical activity and good health.

Researchers have found that 20 children a day fracture their forearms or wrists, and believe the rising rate of obesity may be a cause.

Obesity is also linked to diabetes and heart disease.

Christine's mother, Jocelyn Baber, said that her daughter took some exercise - but not enough - and ate healthy food.

Christine said her favourite meal was KFC. Mrs Baber said she worried about Christine's weight because of the effect it might have on her future health.

Christine and the three other children from her school picked for the programme will be trained by former youth world triathlon champion Nathan Richmond.

The four were a little worried when he told them yesterday that they would have to run 1.5km, but were reassured when he explained it was just up to a nearby corner and back.

And, though they would have to eat healthy foods like rice, vegetables, fruit and yoghurt, they could reward themselves with a weekly chocolate bar or another treat - if they stuck to the training.