La Fiesta! Supported by Sport Whanganui and partners

Shanon Casson, director at NZ Jiujitsu Academy, Kerah McLean-Duffy, from The Movement Collective, and Dinelle Saunders, community activator women and girls at Sport Whanganui, make the most of a beautiful day at Castlecliff beach for a catch-up.

Whanganui offers a variety of opportunities to get active, and local groups and individuals are happy to collaborate for the betterment of the community. La Fiesta! has been an iconic women's event on the Whanganui calendar, and in its 13th year, continues to evolve. Sport Whanganui put the call out to the active recreation and fitness community to be part of La Fiesta!, and the call was answered enthusiastically. Read on to discover the fantastic variety of activities for women of all ages to take part in.

Dinelle Saunders, community activator women and girls at Sport Whanganui, is hugely grateful to the organisations, sport codes, and individuals who have made so many great events accessible via La Fiesta! to women in our community.
"La Fiesta! is a fantastic way to connect with other wahine, celebrate opportunity, and maybe try something new," she says. "It's also a chance to support our local artists and businesses involved in La Fiesta! by heading along to their events. We received great generosity from our partners, who wanted to make their sessions more easily accessible to wahine. Costs are incredibly low, free, or a donation to a local charity, which breaks down a barrier. Those who go along can be active at their own pace, in a friendly, safe space. So, get together with a friend, family members, or even your workmates and you might just discover a new hobby! We have so many amazing women in Whanganui — why not showcase as many as we can, support each other and celebrate all that is La Fiesta!?"

Kerah McLean-Duffy, from The Movement Collective, is one of the newcomers to the La Fiesta! activity offerings. Hip-hop is hugely popular with rangatahi and it's great to see more offerings that appeal to younger women too. The Open Hip Hop class, which will be held at Whanganui City College's dance studio, sounds 100 per cent positive, fun, and inclusive. Kerah describes the class:

"Dance is much deeper than routine, it's about creativity, expression, and freedom. Wahine ma, this class is all about creating a positive vibe, dancing together to feel empowered, and of course, have fun! In my session I incorporate a lot of different hip-hop foundations and make it so that it's easy to follow along. All shapes, sizing and ages are welcome. See you then!"

La Fiesta activities

There are a number of other new offerings on the Sport Whanganui and partners La Fiesta! calendar: Boxfit, Introduction to Surfing, She Loves Golf, Protect-Her Self Defence Class and Bike to Upokongaro Bridge. We hope you love them all, including the Splash Centre, which had its first La Fiesta! outing last year.

La Fiesta! is the brainchild of Carla Donson, manager of the Whanganui Women's Network. She understands that La Fiesta! is all about connections.
"It's always exciting to partner with the terrific team at Sport Whanganui and partners," says Carla. "We were so fortunate to work together for the first time during La Fiesta! last year and it's great to continue growing our partnership. It's also really important to keep encouraging women across the lifespan to remain active and to give new things a go, and there are some brilliant opportunities to do that during the festival."

Taking care of our wellbeing is paramount and the smorgasbord of offerings means the activities offer broad appeal. If you have any queries regarding disability access and participation practicalities, please contact Dinelle Saunders at dinelle@sportwhanganui.co.nz. Check out the details for the activities on www.sportwhanganui.co.nz/events or lafiestanz.com, and we look forward to seeing you soon!