Race day has FINALLY arrived wooohoooo!

Most of you who follow our blog will be familiar with our super tri squad students who have been training for the Iron Māori event in Ahuriri (Napier),  Lee, Collin, Iisa, Stevenson, Nikki, Tyli, Chelsea, Khaia and Quinlan.

Last week students and their whānau travelled down to compete in Iron Māori Rangatahi and Tamariki.  I managed to capture some footage on my Go Pro and along with photgraphs from Paul Tiaiti put together this little movie which highlights our day down in Ahuriri.

We hope you are inspired by the event and may think of doing it one day yourself - whether you are Rangatahi, Tamariki or older :)  You can check out the details here!

Ngā mihi nunui ki ngā whānau who travelled down with us to tautoko their kids - thank you for all your support throughout the year.

A special mihi to our awesome supporters.  Variety, Stellar International and YMCA Glen Innes

Our bikes have arrived - yippee!

Our bikes finally arrived today thanks to Variety - The Chidlren's Charitable Trust, Bikes International and Stellar International.   I asked the kids to share their experience when first seeing the bikes with our followers and here are their reactions:

Lee - It was the first time the tri squad had ever seen the new bikes, all the bikes were blue. We also go a few things like, two t-shirts, a helmet, a cap, a wristband also a book. We all thought that it was pretty cool and that we were really lucky. We had to put our tees on, our cap and our helmet to take a photo. We grabbed our bikes and left to the reserve. They were a bit big on us, We changed the gears and things like that, it made it so much easier, the team had to make a movie to say thank you, can’t wait to go down to Napier.

Quinlan - Yesss!  We have finally received our new bikes. I am so happy that they have come. Straight away when we got our bikes we had to run outside and look at them we all really wanted to just hop on and start riding.  About 20 minutes later it was time for us to take some photos. Our whole Triathlon team were so excited to see them. The bad thing about the bikes is that some were too big because we just grabbed any bike and didn’t look at the sizes. I couldn’t even hop onto the bike, I was very disappointed.

Later on, I learnt how to hop onto the bike, we eventually got to ride them. We rode our bikes around the Point England Reserve. After we biked around for a little bit, we took some more photos, and also some videos.  They helped us get these awesome, cool, blue bikes. They all gave us a bike each.

Our Triathlon team is very happy and excited to start riding and practising to get ready for the day we are racing. We would like to thank, Merida or Bikes International, Stellar International, Variety and my mum.

Khaia:  HOORAY we finally got our bikes for the tri-squad. We went on our first ride down on the reserve and the first time I had hoped on to the bike I instantly knew I couldn’t reach it. Miss Tito told me to hop onto the bar then onto the seat, so I did and it worked and I was on my way to the reserve.

We got to the reserve and Miss Tito said to go ride around the field to see what it feels like. I actually found it difficult because the pedals were very flimsy. Then she said to go into second gear which made it much easier to ride. I was off and Miss Tito called us back to say thank you to all our sponsors starting with Variety shouting thanks Variety. Next we thanked Bikes International for the Merida bikes, then Stella International and Quinlan's mum.

Then we all got the chance to ride up to Ms Tito saying things that we are looking forward to. It was my turn and as I rode up Collin decided to crash into me right when I said “Napier here we come”. Everything was fine nothing broken but  I was angry with Collin and when I got up Collin kept repeating “I’m sorry”. We rode our bikes back to school and didn’t speak of it.

I am grateful to be apart of the Tri-squad and I would like to thank everyone who is supporting us and sponsoring us.

 

Iisa -  On Thursday we were called to the Breeze. Inside waiting for us were 8 blue bikes, leaning on each other. We were all happy and surprised, and wanted to ride them straight away. First we grabbed a helmet and gear bag each. We went into the hall for photos to be taken, and then went outside to cycle at once. We did, and it was fun. 

After cycling around 200m, we starting filming a small thank-you video to all the companies that had sponsored us. Now we can practice cycling on the roads. Yay!  

Stevenson - "WOW!" I whispered in amazement. Our Merida bikes from Bikes International have arrived and they look absolutely awesome.  We tried riding our bikes around the reserve but I was to short to get on so Ms Tito helped me.

Not only that, we also received some goody bags. When I opened my goody bag I pulled out 2 printed t-shirts, notebook, rain poncho, wrist strap and hat. It felt like my birthday! Thanks to Variety, Stellar International, Bikes International and our other sponsors for the gifts.

Back into swimming

 

 

Last week the Triathlon squad went to the pools for another swim session. The session was devoted on all the techniques we had learnt throughout the term.

After doing some laps non-stop, we grabbed our snorkels and did some more exercises. I still had trouble with the snorkels, but I was a whole lot better then last time.

To finish things off, we had a short race. There were 5 of us attending that session, and we all lined up. We were going to race, all together simultaneously. First was a kicking race. Collin was the victor, and I cam second. Next was a 2-part freestyle race. Stevenson came first, and in the next lap, I came first. The reason we swam so crowded is because in real triathlons, it would've been crowded anyway.

The event we are training for is near, and I look forward to it!
Reported by Iisa 

 

Iron Māori Whānau Hui

On Friday 16th October our Iron Māori Whānau came together for a much needed hui.  We updated whanau with the latest news regarding bikes, uniforms, fundraising, accommodation and more.

We had a little whanaungatanga session introducing ourselves because for some, it was their first hui.  It was a pleasure to acknolwledge Stellar International for their support by giving us a $1200 donation to help pay for all of the tamariki uniforms:  So they will have a Tri suit, Hoodie, T-shirt and possibly track pants.  Our kids will be reppin' PES with style down in Napier.

We talked through a few more of the organisational tasks and then shared kai. 

It was a great meeting and we have a few fundraising projects in the pipeline.   Keep an eye out in the office area for a grocery hamper and maybe buy a ticket ($2) to support our tri squad.

Term 4 training underway!

On Tuesday the Tri-athletes and Ms Tito went on our first training session for term 4 at the YMCA in G.I.  It was really tiring cycling on the spin bikes, luckily miss Tito turned on the fans or else we would have been sweating like pigs.

 We cycled for 45 minutes at different speeds, it was really hard. Swimming is really difficult for me but I'm getting there. The team is really coming together and we can't wait to compete in 7 weeks time.

Reported by Collin

VARIETY we love you!

Wooooohoooooo!  We are so pleased to announce that Variety - The Children's Charity, have approved our proposal for purchasing 8 hybrid bikes and helmets for our Iron Māori Triathletes to train on and use during the Iron Māori event.

We are sooooo grateful for their kind and generous support.

On Wednesday morning two of our Triathletes, Iisa and Quilan, represented our Tri squad and school and thanked Variety for their support during the BDO Wellington to Auckland Cycle Challenge launch.  Variety are one of the main sponsors for this awesome fundraiser.

Our students and the CEO of Variety, Lorraine Taylor, were interviewed by Sam Wallace on TV One's 'Breakfast' show.

It was a super morning celebrating Variety who support many whānau/families in communities like ours.  We are very proud of  Iisa and Quinlan. 

A special mihi to Carly Thomson from Variety who met with us during our application process and helped us put things together.

Our next challenge is to fundraise for the kids tri-suits!

Snorkels to the rescue!

We bought some snorkels for our Tri squad to help them focus on their swimming technique.  They wore them for the first time yesterday.  Here are their reports about their first snorkel experience...

Stevenson:  The snorkels were weird because water kept seeping through which didn't allow me to breathe properly.  I did find a solution to that but I had to play with the snorkel a lot. At first it was easy just swimming without having to turn our head and breath but when we started to do our rotation drill it started to get pretty difficult because I had to keep my head straight.
Overall I enjoyed snorkeling... I'm looking forward to the next swimming session using our snorkels.

Iisa:  Yesterday the Triathlon squad got to use new snorkels delivered to us from Wiggle in England. We were all excited to use them, as many of us haven't used any snorkels before. Personally, I found it mush easier at the start, but as the practice progressed, I found it harder and harder because my head kept going to low, therefore allowing water to come through the top. At one point I accidentally breathed in through my nose.  Overall I enjoyed using the new snorkels. I look forward to using them again, and get better at using them.

Collin:  They were very easy to use and fun.  Using them helped me to focus on my technique instead of trying to breathe the whole time.  The only thing that irritated me was when the water went through the breathing hole when my head moved. They were so much fun and I can't wait until we go to Napier.

Tyli:  I found it really hard to use them properly.  Water kept on getting in the top and I couldn't breathe properly.  it was interesting using them though!