Te Ururoa Flavell: Showing they're made of iron

Another fortnight has passed since my last column and I've attended another tangihanga for someone affected by cancer.

I am speaking of Geoff Manahi, son of the late Haane Manahi, who was a war hero and recognised by the Queen for his bravery in the battle of Takrouna. My aroha goes to Te Awhi, his wife, their whanau and his wider whanau.

I spent Friday night at a wind-training session with the Flavazum Health and Fitness group. What is wind training you might ask? Well, picture this; you're on your bike, cycling, going nowhere, stationary, the back wheel is being held by a wind-trainer device, which puts some pressure on your tyres and you do a cycling routine made up of sprints, gear changes and some easy cycling, for almost an hour. It's a high intensity workout that definitely gets a sweat up.

What was most interesting about this session, was that there were at least 25 other people, all Maori, of various shapes and sizes, on their flash road bikes, doing the same thing. The class had a teacher, who had a whiteboard with the programme on it, and about 10 kids doing Zumba to the music while the cyclists pedalled and there were about five support people as well walking around making sure we had water, a towel, giving a rub when needed and just generally providing moral support.

This group is supporting about 80 or so locals who are training for the Iron Maori Event, held in Napier later this year. Included in this group is a team of three men, who are pretty big guys and competing in the Half Iron Man event, which consists of a 90km bike, a 2km swim and a 21km run/walk. That sort of an event would be a mission for anyone, but this team of guys collectively weigh around 700kg. They require custom-made gear so the Flavazum team raised funds, sought assistance and were happy to have the CycleZone guys at the wind-training session on Friday night, who presented the custom-built bike and wind trainer to its new owner. I look forward to seeing these guys complete their event and I'm sure that with the help of this ropu they will do so easily.

It's a great event this Iron Maori. Where else do you see 1000-odd Maori line up in a triathlon type event? It must surely have a great follow-on effect within the whanau of the participants. To have about 100 people from the Te Arawa rohe heading down to participate is a real buzz.

This leads me to my next kaupapa - health checks. I want to remind everyone, particularly our tane, to head to the GP for an annual health check. It's important to stay on top of health and the purpose of the annual check is to catch anything early. particularly any changes. As they say, prevention is better than a cure. With winter hitting us now, it's timely to get checked out.

Kia ora Tatou.

Katahi ano ka puta taku korero e pa ana ki te mate pukupuku. No taua wa i hinga ko tetahi whanaunga ano i taua ngangara nui. Ko Geoff Manahi tera, te tama a te hoia rongonui ra a Haane Manahi. Ka tuku aku whakaaro me taku aroha ki a Te Awhi, ratou ko to raua whanau whanui.

I te Paraire kua pahure ake i haere ahau ki te eke pahikara i te taha o te roopu o Flavasum. Ehara i te mea he pahikara noa tenei, he pahikara pupuhi hau ke. Ko te ahua o taua pahikara, he mea noho mau ki te papa, kaore he nekeneke, a, kua mau te wira o muri ki tetahi mea pupuhi hau. Ka huri tupurangi nga wira kia haere tere, haere poturi, eke uaua, eke mama ranei koe. Pakaru mai ana te werawera ka tika! Ko te mea miharo ki a au, ko te nama o nga tangata ka tae atu, otira, he Maori te katoa, a, ko tangata piiki, ko tangata iti, ko wai atu ko wai atu. Kotahi te kaiako, a, i te taha o nga kai eke pahikara ko tetahi roopu tamariki e mahi Zumba ana. Na ratou hoki i tautoko i a matou nga kai eke pahikara i te wa hiainu, hia taora ana matou.

Ko te tikanga o tenei roopu he tautoko i te hunga e whakaharatau ana mo te whakataetae Iron Maori ka tu ki Ahuriri i te mutunga o te tau. Ko tetahi o nga roopu e whakaharatau ana ko tetahi e 700 kirokaramu te taumaha! Tokotoru o ratou, a, tona tikanga ka uru atu ratou ki te wahanga haurua. Kei roto i taua wahanga ko tetahi haerenga pahikara 90 kiromita te roa, he haerenga kaukau 2 kiromita te roa, he wahanga oma/hikoi hoki 21 kiromita te roa. Kaore e kore he mahi uaua mo te tangata noa, engari mo tetahi roopu 700 kirokaramu te taumaha! Na te roopu o Flavasum etahi o nga taputapu i rapu, i kohi putea hoki mo tenei roopu, a, na te toa o CycleZone tetahi pahikara i takoha ki te roopu kia taea e ratou te eke pahikara. He mea miharo rawa tenei, a, kaore e kore ka eke panuku eke Tangaroa te katoa o ratou.

He pai rawa tenei mea te Iron Maori. He mea hou te kite i nga tangata Maori maha e ngana ana ki te whakapakari tinana, ki te oma, ki te eke pahikara, ki te kaukau hoki. Kua kite hoki au i etahi whanau e whakataetae ana! Tokomaha matou no Te Arawa e whakaharatau ana, no reira he ahuatanga hikaka ka tika! Na runga i tera, he whakamaumahara tenei ki a tatou katoa ki te haere ki te takuta kia whai mohiotanga tatou katoa mo te oranga o o tatou whanau. E tika ana te korero, he pai ake te arai mate ki te whakatika mate. I tenei wa o te hotoke, me aro tatou katoa ki taua mahi.