Over 60 of the Crusaders 2017 squad, including coaching and management staff, attended a brief informal hui at Te Whatu Manawa o Rehua Marae. Joe Moody (Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri) spoke on behalf of the manuhiri at the pōwhiri, thanking those in attendance from Rehua Marae, and connecting back with his Ngāi Tahu whakapapa. [Read more…]

In mid-August Gore hosted the Girls’ U18 ice hockey competition, with the Toronto Leaside Wildcats coming over from Canada. Because of the number of people, we offered our rūnanga facilities to host both teams so they could bond over meals. It was fun to be involved with this group and all the girls, coaches and helpers were a treat to have around. [Read more…]

A big congratulations to Dakota Crengle. Dakota is the son of Ricky and Alishia and grandson of Pam and Royd Crengle. Ricky is a young lad who is very keen on riding his speedway bike and the photo below is of him with the “Rider of the Meet” ribbon the was awarded. Dakota has also done well at soccer and was presented the Waihōpai Football Club 9th Grade yellow team Player of the Year for 2016. Awesome work Dakota! [Read more…]

The 79th South Island Māori Netball Tournament (Pitama Cup) was held in Kaikōura on 24 September. It was a great day filled with fun, laughter, catching up with old friends and making new ones.

The marching, netball and kapa haka was of outstanding quality from all the rōpū that attended. Te Tai Taonga MP Rino Tirikatene said he had a wonderful time and the manaakitanga from the host club was amazing.

The host club, Kaikōura Te Ahikaaroa, won the tuakana (senior) netball, teina (intermediate) marching and our pēpi (junior) had a wonderful time. [Read more…]

Avalon and Cheyenne Te Haara-Barr have both had a very successful final year at their respective schools. Avalon and Cheyenne are the daughters of John and Annie Te Haara–Barr (based in Christchurch) and mokopuna of Stuart and Sue Barr. Stuart has served on our rūnanganui (executive) as our kaipūtea for five terms. Avalon is in her final year at Russley Primary School and was awarded a Sir Peter Blake Medal in recognition of her youth leadership and academic results achieved. Cheyenne has had an equally successful final year in her role as Head Girl at Riccarton High School. A highlight for Cheyenne was being chosen as a member of the Youth Parliament by local MP Megan Woods. This achievement gave Cheyenne the opportunity to speak in Parliament in July. [Read more…]

Dylan Kennett (Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri/Ngāti Tumatakokiri), will be participating in the 2016 Olympic cycling events in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

Dylan was born 8 December 1994 and is the second son of Craig and Caryl Kennett and mokopuna of Ash and Kath Mattison. He was born and raised early on at Tuahiwi, having lived at Pōua Len and Taua Whitu’s home.

Dylan’s family now lives in Waimate where his father and his elder brother Josh train standard breeds.
His whakapapa line is:
Hohepa Huria — Mary Jane Drabble
Puneke Huria — Te Rahuru Russell
Whitu Huria — Len Cox
Karolyn Cox — Kelvin Kennett [Read more…]

A huge congratulations to Kane Parker and Quinn Johnsen for making the West Coast Under 50kg Seddon Shield team for 2016. Kane Parker was awarded player of the day in the first game against Buller following an impressive performance the week prior in Westport. Quinn Johnsen was awarded player of the day in the final game against Nelson and received the West Coast player of the tournament. Well done boys, we wish you all the best for the future. [Read more…]

Jessica Terekia (He uri nō te whānau Cross – Waihōpai and Awarua Rūnaka) recently competed at Lake Kawana on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Club teams from Aotearoa had to qualify at the National Waka Ama event held annually at Lake Karapiro.

As a member of Horouta Waka Hoe, Jessica was a key member of the Horouta J16 Women’s Squad and raced the V12 500m sprint, the V6 1000m turn race and the V6 500m sprint race. The event held from 10 – 15 May saw Jessica and her fellow crew win silver in the V12 500m sprint final, silver in the V6 1000 final and gold in the V6 500m final. [Read more…]

Since Brooke was 12-years old it has been her dream to compete at Wimbledon. She has already travelled extensively with her tennis and last year attended a tennis camp on the East Coast of the USA in the state of Massachusetts.

Brooke was there for eight weeks where she trained every day, and competed in two six-hour long tournaments. [Read more…]

From 5-15 May, two of the Taumutu whānau took on the world’s best at the 2016 International Va’a Federation World Waka Ama Sprint Championships on the Sunshine Coast in Australia – and came home with some great results.

Adrian Tukaki and Craig Pauling, along with Wairewa teammate Iaean Cranwell, and their crew Aoraki Matatū, competed in the Master 40 Men grade, bringing home one world championship title and two silver medals in their three team events, while Adrian also picked up a bronze medal in the Masters V1 (single) 500m race. [Read more…]

Ōraka-Aparima Waka Ama in conjunction with Kāhungunu waka ama whānau and Te Piritahi a Rua waka ama gathered on good Friday to support Nic Low (Ōraka-Aparima) and whānau on their epic journey from Anita Bay to Te Wae Wae Bay.

Our Ōraka-Aparima waka and Kāhungunu waka were strapped together to form a w12 canoe. Our waka whānau paddled 29km on Lake Te Anau on Good Friday and 35km on Lake Manapouri on the Saturday. We were very fortunate with amazing weather both days. [Read more…]

Our Hero

Kara Jane Wandless (mokopuna of Irirangi and Mohi ‘Moke’ Whitau) achieved her goal of completing the Wānaka Challenge Half Ironman Event in under six hours. Over 1600 competitors took part in the event which involved a 1.9km swim, 90km bike ride and a 21.1km run. This was an outstanding achievement for Kara Jane, considering she had to “learn” and train to swim only six months earlier with the on-going support of Roger, two little sons Nico and Tazz, their sister Tayla and of course the backup team of mum, Rangi-Sally Whitau Wast and whānau. [Read more…]

Talima Kalauta-Crofts (moko of Tukotahi Crofts, son of Tracey Crofts) has been selected for the New Zealand Weightlifting team that will be attending the 2016 Oceania Weightlifting Championships in Suva, Fiji in May.

Talima currently has many achievements under his belt:

  • 2014 – South Island Secondary Schools Olympic Weightlifting Champion
  • 2015 – New Zealand Junior National Olympics Weightlifting Champion
  • 2015 – Gold medallist (Junior) at The Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea (New Zealand Olympic Weightlifting)
  • 2016 – Candidate for the New Zealand High Performance Squad to Weightlifting, targeting the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Earlier this year it was announced that Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand had selected Talima to represent New Zealand at the 2016 IWF Junior World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia from 23 June to 2 July.

These are huge achievements and whānau are incredibly proud. We wish Talima all the very best for the upcoming championships – watch this space.

Talima Kalauta-Crofts.

Talima Kalauta-Crofts.

Our congratulations to Phoebe Williams and her team mates on becoming the Kayak Water Polo New Zealand Under 14 champions.

Along with her team, Phoebe trained four hours a day, over a two-year period to gain this title.

Phoebe’s great-grandparents are Joseph Te Kihi Te Ra Heath and Lily Heath, Her grandparents are Irene Boyd and the late Brian Wehipeihana and her father is Tom Williams. Nā T. J. Williams. [Read more…]

Sporting Saturday saw cousins Bailey Nutira-Gilmour (Hornby Rugby League) and Tamanuhiri (Tama) Parata (Halswell Hornets) play opposing sides for their 8-year-olds’rugby league game. Following an awesome game, we just couldn’t let them leave without the requisite photo opportunity.

Bailey and Tama at league.

Bailey and Tama at league.

Our congratulations go to our awesome hapū member Sarah Langsbury who was selected to represent Otago at the New Zealand National Interprovincial Athletics competition held in March. Sarah was placed second in her age group for most overall points (2,759). She has participated in 10 other track and field competitions since January and placed first in numerous events. Ka mau te wehi Sarah. [Read more…]

I want to take this opportunity to thank Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua for their generous donation towards my gymnastics trip to Hawaii. I am so grateful to have such supportive family, helping me make these incredible experiences possible.

The Hawaiian competition I competed at, along with 16 other New Zealand team mates was a huge success, not just for myself but for our whole team. Every team member managed to stand on the podium which made us feel proud of our country. The first competition was called the ‘Gymnastics in Paradise’ competition which hosted gymnasts from the States, Australia and the UK. [Read more…]

Chantelle and Jaryn Tainui were both chosen for the 6-a-side indoor netball national tournament held in Auckland on 10 March.

Brother and sister, Jaryn and Chantelle both play for the Hornby Titans Silver team, the club they represented at the national tournament held at Action Indoor Sports in Manukau.

Chantelle commented ”Our team went up there as a completely new team, we had only been training together since the beginning of the year. Most of the teams up there competing have been playing together for years, so we had the disadvantage of being new – the competition up there was really good and quite hard, but we certainly stepped up.” [Read more…]

125cc team race winners

It was the first time “Ōreti Guns” had entered in the 125cc team race held at Moore Park Speedway on 30 January. Ryan Colvin, Cormack Buchannan, Hayden Brookland and Dakota Crengle won the team event. Good one boys. Kia kaha. Nā Aunty Shona Fordyce.

Dakota Crengle is pictured wearing the red winners sash. Dakota’s parents are Ricky and Alisha and Royd and Pam. His grandparents are all so very proud of Dakota and his team. [Read more…]

Congratulations to our Taumutu men on their gold medal waka ama win. Adrian Tukaki (second from the right) is the nephew of Malcolm Wards (Wards whānau) who now lives in Tauranga and is a former Crusader from the original 1995 team). Craig, Adrian, Todd and Iaean have been paddling together for 15 years in the same crew and have paddled with their other team mates – Ross and Jack (from Christchurch) and Todd (from Motueka) for 7-8 years. [Read more…]