Popular Kapiti event set to go

By Roger Childs

One of the running highlights of the year gets under way in Kapiti this holiday weekend.

The annual Kapiti Running and Tri Club Paekakariki Road Races take place next Sunday,20 January.

Club President, Bryn Kempthorne, says: “Online entries are ahead of last year so far with most being from women and from outside the Kapiti area. The event is a friendly one and we try make a feature of the morning tea which is included.”

All races start at 9.00 am on the road beside Campbell Park on The Parade. The entry fee is $12. Under 19 competitors pay $5. Online entries can be made at www.enteronline.co.nz Participants can enter on the day, but need to get there early and will be required to pay a $3 late entry fee.

The interesting course around the village covers a 5.45 km loop of undulating roads and tracks, and includes The Parade, parts of Wellington and Tilley Roads and a section of Queen Elizabeth Park. Walkers can do one or two laps, and runners have the choice of one, two or three.

16.35km Run

10.9km Run or Walk
5.45km Run or Walk

Starters in the 10.9km run will compete for the Don Melrose trophies. Don was a long time resident of Paekakariki and a stalwart member of the Kapiti Harrier Club.

After the race, runners, walkers and supporters will be treated to a lavish morning tea at the Memorial Hall, followed by a prize giving which includes a large spot prize draw. The event is great value for money.

For further information see www.sportsground.co.nz/kapitirunningandtriclub

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100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.