International rugby player Isaac Ross is defying the odds to still be playing professionally at 38. But he loves it way too much to give it up yet, and doesn’t plan on hangin’ up his boots until he’s 40.
Feature, P30-31
Experienced Ashburton local jockey Jason Laking says colleague Megan Taylor was just starting to reap the rewards of her hard work before her tragic fatal final race.
Taylor, 26, was killed on Thursday afternoon after a horror fall in the second race of the day in Ashburton where four horses and jockeys were brought down.
Taylor from Christchurch had been a jockey for the past 18 months and was fast becoming a promising apprentice for former Ashburton trainer, Andrew Carston.
Laking said he’ll remember the bright youngster for her incredible work ethic, determination and absolute love of anything to do with horses
“What can you say about her? She worked her bloody arse off to get to where she did and she was only just starting to see the rewards for all her work,’’ Laking said as the fallout from the harsh realities of the sport were placed under the microscope for all to see.
“She was one of those people who was always happy, you could tell she just loved what she was doing – she was just brilliant.”
Laking won’t ever forget the tragic accident, being positioned just in front of Taylor’s horse when it came down.
“There was a bit of movement from the inside horses and then what looks like an over-reaction from another and Megan’s horse fell and hit my horse’s flank as it went down,’’ he said.
“You could tell straight away it was pretty bad, but in that situation you just have to keep riding.
“You’ve got your own duty of care to yourself, the horse and those around you. It’s tough.”
A sombre mood awaited in the jockeys’ room following the fall as everyone came to grips with the death of one of their own.
“We’re like a family you know. It’s not one of those jobs where you don’t know half the people you work with.
“We all know each other, (we) all get on and all look out for each other and it was really hard to see everyone hurting so much afterwards – especially the younger jockeys.”
But Laking said he and his colleagues were fully aware of the risks each time they jumped in the saddle. But to worry about the dangers of steering more than 600kg of equine muscle around a racecourse at high speeds when out on the track was almost as big of a danger, he said.
“There’s a reason that horse racing is the only sport where the ambulance follows you around,” he said.
“But you can’t afford to think or worry about the dangers.
“You know they are there, but you need to be as focused as you can
out on the track because things can change in an instance.”
Taylor’s death was the third on the Ashburton track in the past 40 years, but also the second in New Zealand this year following that of Japanese rider Taiki Yanagi da at Cambridge in August.
Popular Canterbury jockey Samantha Wynne was also seriously injured in Thursday’s accident, being taken to hospital by ambulance with a broken collarbone, broken ribs and a fractured pelvis.
Leading South Island jockey Tina Comignaghi was treated for soft tissue injuries and Diego Montes
de Oca suffered concussion and bruising.
Three of the four horses involved walked away from the incident but Show Us Plenty was found to have fractured a leg and was humanely euthanised by the course veterinarian.
Racing for the day was abandoned following the incident while
‘You could tell she just loved what she was doing – she
Far left – Mid Canterbury jockey, Jason Laking.
Left – Twenty-six-year-old apprentice jockey, Megan Taylor, was killed at the Ashburton Racecourse on Thursday when her ride in the second race of the day, Red Orchid, was brought down at the top of the home straight.
Below – Out of the eight jockey deaths in New Zealand over the past 40 years, three of them have been on the Ashburton Racecourse.
PHOTOS SUPPLIED
The Ashburton Racecourse plays a tragic role in the history of jockey deaths in New Zealand.
Thursday’s tragic death of young apprentice jockey Megan Taylor became the third time a jockey has died on the Ashburton turf in the past 40 years – accounting for almost half of the deaths nationally during that time period.
In 1984 another young jockey, Hunter Thomas – who was just 16 years old at the time – was killed while competing in a steeplechase race early in his career in the saddle
But in a cruel twist of fate for his family, it wouldn’t be the last time the Ashburton course would bring them tragedy.
It would be 18 years before another jockey died on a New Zealand race track when Jo McGartland of Timaru lost her life in a fall at Rangiora in 2002.
Sadly, also later that year, Christchurch’s Ray Hewinson also lost his life when competing in a hurdle race at Ashburton.
Hewinson, who was 42 at the time of his death, was Hunter Thomas’ uncle and the pair both went down in almost exactly the same spot almost 20 years apart.
Following the death of his nephew, Hewinson stopped riding for almost 14 years before returning to the saddle only to be killed four years later after his ride misjudged a hurdles fence in the opening race of the day.
police and the Racing Integrity Board (RIB) carried out investigations.
WorkSafe was notified and Taylor’s death was referred to the coroner while the (RIB) will also conduct its own enquiry into the fall.
South Island racing resumes tomorrow at Gore and that would be tough for all those involved in
Thursday’s meeting, but Laking said returning to Ashburton on Wednesday for another meeting would be even harder.
“That’s going to be the one that’s going to carry the most emotion for everyone I think, being back there within a week and racing on the same track.
“It’s going to be really hard.”
He was pronounced dead on his arrival at Ashburton Hospital.
There was more tragedy for Mid Canterbury that year with local apprentice Christine Lawn left paralysed from the waist down after she took a fall in a race at Wingatui earlier in the year.
Jonathan Leask
Racial abuse should not be tolerated in Mid Canterbury and a former district councillor is calling on the community to take a stand.
Hakatere Multi Cultural Council (HMCC) chairperson and former Ashburton District councillor Selwyn Price (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa), said the abuse aimed at candidate Shfire Sapphire was abhorrent and that it happened in the public eye is simply not good enough.
Sapphire put herself in the spotlight to stand for the Ashburton District Council and while she presented some radical ideas, she was abused for her ethnicity, her moko and her use of Te Reo – in person and on social media.
She has taken some of that abuse to the police, who can charge individuals under the Harmful Digital Communications Act.
Price became aware of the
personal abuse Sapphire was experiencing when she, along with other candidates, spoke at the Hakatere council annual meeting in September.
“Needless to say, most of us in the room were appalled that she had been targeted for wearing a moko kauae and expressed our empathy for her situation.
“To denigrate her for wearing her moko kauae is not just a personal insult, but an insult to her tipuna, her whānau, and to Māori culture,” Price said.
He was also present at the meet-the-candidates event and said he shared Sapphire’s dismay “that members of our community felt emboldened in that
A candidate being racially abused is “disappointing and upsetting”, council chief executive Hamish Riach says.
“Particularly in the context of putting their hand up to represent their community at the council table.”
Shfire Sapphire presented strong personal opinions on a number of topics in her campaign but it was her identity, not her ideals that had her the victim of vitriol.
“In a healthy democracy, it’s important that all ideas and perspectives are seen and heard regardless of the person’s identity,” Riach said.
“It is most concerning that Sapphire has been belittled because of her racial identity.”
Sapphire said she has not reported the abuse to the council.
Riach hopes it will not put any potential candidates off from standing for the council in future, especially as Mid Canterbury is increasingly becoming a multi-cultural community.
The district gained a welcoming community accreditation from Immigration New Zealand in 2020, representing its work making newcomers feel more accepted and celebrated in the community.
Riach said the council is proud of the Welcoming Communities programme and its core aim being to enhance social cohesion.
“While we feel the programme is making a positive difference, there is clearly more work across the whole community to be done,” he said.
were clearly premised on anti-Māori and anti-Te reo Māori sentiment”.
“What was even worse, from my perspective, were the responses and lack of response.”
He also noted a candidate speaking of Te Reo being forced down people’s throats and another taking the opportunity to rail against what he regarded as co-governance yet “no other candidate challenged any of those comments”.
The former one-term councillor said as a Maori, he is aware of racist undertones in the community.
“Because I appear for all intents and purposes as Pākehā, and my accent has also been modified by living overseas for 27 years, I didn’t receive any abuse for my ethnicity.
“However, I witnessed many examples of community leaders making racially charged comments, even when they were aware of my link to the Māori community.”
He said the anti-Māori comments and racial insults do not represent the majority of thinking in our community, but “it is incumbent on each and every one of us to call it out when we see or hear it”.
Ashburton’s favourite character has decided to stick around.
Anthony “Goldberg” Bartlett says he will remain in Ashburton for a while yet.
An emotional Goldberg announced his departure in May this year, saying he was heading to Gisborne to be with family. But after six months of changing plans, he decided he would stay in the town he loves.
When his initial departure was announced, the Ashburton Guardian Facebook page was inundated with Goldberg supporters expressing their sadness.
“Everyone has been asking me when I’m going to Gisborne so I thought I’d better let everyone know I’m staying,” Goldberg said.
He has now clocked up 27 years here and become famous for appearing everywhere with a friendly chat and wave, sometimes with a bit of cheek thrown in.
Goldberg, who moved to Ashburton in 1996, would commonly hang out on the side of State Highway 1 in Ashburton, waving to passing motorists, particularly truckies.
He held numerous jobs and his last role before retiring was collecting rubbish bins around the town centre for businesses, including the Guardian. He loves his rugby, being a massive Mid Canterbury fan and for some time he even manned the scoreboard at the Ashburton A&P Showgrounds.
Goldberg has said that he couldn’t afford the move to Gisborne at the moment but hasn’t ruled it out in the future. “I couldn’t afford it, and there are no houses up there at the moment.”
So Goldberg will stick around town for a while longer, parked up for summer on the roadside waving to passing holiday motorists with one of his many hats on.
ommended to the college to look into the incidents by the New Zealand School Trustees’ Association, has caused community criticism and uncertainty.
Ashburton College heads have done their best to pacify community concerns over suggestions that no student bullying complaints reached the principal or the board in the past five years.
Principal Ross Preece and Board of Trustees’ (BOT) chairperson Jen Muir tried to do that in a joint statement about the independent review findings into multiple bullying allegations at the college, which were exposed on national television in damning stories in September.
One paragraph early in the report’s executive summary by reviewer Suzie Sauer, who was rec-
Sauer wrote that “no complaints of student bullying behaviour were brought to the Ashburton College principal or Board of Trustees (BOT) between 2017 and the current date”, even though some parents and guardians apparently provided Television New Zealand with evidence that they had been in direct contact with Preece about student bullying incidents.
Muir and Preece said there were student bullying incidents reported in that time.
“In a large school it would not be best practice for all anti-social behaviours, bullying concerns, or inter-personal issues to be handled in the initial stages by the principal,’’ they said.
“However, the principal has an
oversight role.
“If disciplinary action is required, then the formal delegation sits with the principal and then, depending on the outcome, may formally transfer to the board of trustees.”
That response is not likely to wash with many Guardian Facebook followers, who responded in big numbers to the review findings.
The post reached close to 8000 people, with the indication that no student bullying complaints had reached the principal or the BOT between 2017 and now being questioned.
“Well, by the looks of things, he (Preece) hasn’t documented everything the way it should have been, if they can’t find anything since 2017,’’ Karlie Maxwell wrote.
Another Facebook follower, Sheryn Hales, called it a “joke’’, while Vania Hulse suggested it
was “hilarious’’.
Reviewer Sauer, in analysing the credibility of the bullying complaints in her report, said the information gathered was “mixed due to some complexities”.
One of those was that a large number of allegations were unsubstantiated, with no evidence found for or against.
In several incidents it was also found that a student raising a bullying concern “had also been involved in conducting bullying behaviour themselves so the case was handled accordingly”.
Credibility issues or not, there were cases of bullying, and the report showed the college’s handling of them was in accordance with its policy but with the recommendations it could do better in future.
One of those steps was announced prior to the report being released, with the college
introducing a cellphone ban this year that would come into effect at the start of Term 1, 2023.
Preece and Muir also said recommendations included in the report to the college would be implemented by the start of the next school year.
“The key findings are around communication,’’ they said.
“We will continue to reflect and refine this area as it is important that parents and students feel assured that a matter has been taken seriously and appropriate action taken.’’
International opera singer, Simon O’Neill, remembers a defining moment when his Ashburton training gave him one of the great opportunities to record a Verdi opera.
Simon, who will give his Grammy award winning recital with local soprano, Olivia Pike, at the Ashburton Event Centre tomorrow afternoon, had returned to his London base from Rome in 2009 when he received a phone message.
Did he know the tenor role in Verdi’s opera Otello and would he be prepared to sing it with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis?
He answered yes and was then informed he’d be performing the title role in a live recording the following night.
The singer, originally chosen, had voice problems.
“What they didn’t know was that I’d practised about 15 per cent of the role and had 24 hours to learn the rest,” he said.
“What sustained and prepared me was my Ashburton training and the opportunities I received back home.”
Simon studied the piano at seven and joined the Ashburton Silver Band the following year.
He learned to sight read music, conduct, play the organ and a range of instruments,
“Ashburton gave me the all-encompassing musical training that enabled me to prepare for the Verdi recording,” he said.
“It gave me the tools to deliver the opera.”
Smaller communities can provide this far better than major centres where you’re just another youngster among many seeking a career in music, he said.
Simon was the soloist in a Grammy nominated recording and, when the award was announced earlier this year, he promised to bring it home to Ashburton.
In tomorrow’s recital with Ashburton
soprano, Olivia Pike, the Grammy will feature on the concert grand.
The concert will feature opera, oratorio, musical theatre, popular song, Christmas classics and the number Simon first sang in public at Ashburton College 34 years ago, Music Of The Night by Lloyd Webber.
Councillor Carolyn Cameron told KiwiRail in June the rail corridor needed better maintenance as it was “making our town look scruffy”.
WALNUT AVE
Extra traffic signal movement at the Walnut Avenue/West Street intersection will be investigated in the new year.
t a recent count about 40 vehicles banked up with several turning ound to seek other methods of getting to where they wanted to go.
The days of the mid-town shutdown for freight trains are coming to an end.
Trains will pass through Ashburton at greater speed in future once the shunting yard shifts north to the Fairfield Freight Hub at Fairton.
Construction is set to start on the freight hub in the new year and it is planned to be completed by the end of 2023.
Once completed the container processing operations will move from the centre of town out to Fairton which KiwiRail general manager of South Island operations, Mark Heissenbuttel, said will mean trains will then pass through town at higher speed.
Heissenbuttel said there will be a safety awareness campaign with the community before the freight hub becomes operational.
“We’ll be working with track safe and doing a campaign around the increased speed that the trains will be coming through.”
A large part of that campaign will focus on school-age children, he said.
The main crossing point for school children has recently been upgraded as part of the Walnut Avenue upgrade project to be “the most modern level crossing in New Zealand” Heissenbuttel said.
As Waka Kotahi told the Ashburton District Council in November, KiwiRail is taking the lessons from the Walnut Avenue project into its preparations for its next major project in the district, the Tinwald corridor upgrade.
“Communication is the key.
“We are deep into the planning to make sure that Tinwald goes really well and what we will commit to you is a programme which will clearly articulate who is doing what, and when so that as a community you will know and there are no surprises.”
As for the Fairfield Rail Hub, a joint project between the Wareing Group, KiwiRail, and the council, Heissenbuttel is confident
Heissenbuttel said they have since invested a lot of money in clearing the vegetation, doubling the maintenance contract to keep on top of the work.
Cameron said the council was grateful for the work that has gone into tidying up the rail corridor and asked if KiwiRail is going to assist in the restoration of the historic rail footbridge.
Heissenbuttel said the investigation report into the restoration is being prepared by the council but knows the work presents a significant cost and “I’m sure
can assist in that”.
the project can be completed in 12 months.
“One of the key things for us is trucks off roads.
“We have aspirations to double our freight business.”
He said the rail siding that was built and opened at the Synlait factory in Dunsandel last year has equated to around 16,000 trucks per year off the road.
Once operational, it has been estimated the Fairfield Freight Hub will cause a reduction of around 40,000 truck movements per year.
Another factor is KiwiRail replacing its ageing fleet of locomotives.
Heissenbuttel said 57 locomotives have been ordered for the South Island out of the around $420m Government investment and they will start arriving from Spain in June 2024.
Waka Kotahi media manager, Frances Adank, said its traffic signal design team will consider the problem to see if an additional set of movements is possible. However she said the status quo will remain during Christmas/New Year.
The issue was raised by the Ashburton Guardian when goods trains move back and forward over the intersec tion.
Traffic mounts up because the newly-installed signals stay red and deny Walnut Avenue vehicles access to West Street during shunting or when trains moved up or down the line.
The lights aren’t programmed to provide a green arrow, allowing vehi cles access to West Street.
Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown acknowledged the problem and said KiwiRail has told the district council that trains are going slow over the crossing while it beds in but will increase their speed over the next few days.
“Waka Kotahi is monitoring the signals so they get the best mix of red and green.
“This may take a bit of time as trends get established,” he said. However, there’s no mix of green at all for vehicles turning left or right during shunting and the signals only allow for three or four vehicle movements at best during normal
Of the 40 vehicles mounted up, several wanted to turn left on to West Street but couldn’t because they were caught in the queue of
That problem could be partly resolved if the authorities extended its dedicated left lane along Walnut
“Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air”
we
One of the biggest Mid Canterbury Christmas light displays has returned to light up many faces with joy.
After calling it quits five years ago, 71-year-old Ashburton resident Frank Sandys has turned on his Christmas lights once again.
“I was just thinking in the backyard, and thought we would just do a little bit and see how it goes,” Sandys said.
That “little bit” has turned out to be one the biggest Christmas displays in Mid Canterbury.
Sandys only decided in November that he would do a display, which posed a bit of a challenge as he had sold most of his lights
But despite the challenge Sandys has still managed to acquire so many lights he has lost count.
“I have no idea, there’s probably thousands of lights,” Sandys said when asked how many lights he had.
His Philip Street property has Christmas lights on every wall, tree, car and even the roof. Along with the lights, there is also many blow-up displays. The inside of the house is filled with more Christmas displays.
Sandy’s first got bit by the Christmas bug around 2006 in Methven when his daughter Brooke encouraged to him to buy some.
“I had a ski lodge, Rose Cottage up in Methven which was empty and she (Brooke) said ‘Dad you’ve got nothing of Christmas up, not even a tree’.“
“I asked her what she wanted,
Christmas joy
What: Christmas lights display
Where: 29 Philip Street
When: Every night until December 27
and she wanted some lights, so we went and bought some lights and that’s when it took off because the more I put on I just wanted to add more.”
He added to his collection to the point where he won a Christmas lights competition without even being entered.
“Professionals Real Estate decided to hold a competition which
I didn’t enter, but everyone voted for me. I won a supreme award,” Sandys said.
And from then it just got bigger and bigger.
However in 2018 he decided to call it quits, selling off most of his lights, only holding on to some of the larger and more valuable lights.
“It just got too big, I just wore
myself out.”
But now he’s back again.
Any donations he raises, will head the way of the Ashburton Fire Museum. The money will help get one of their trucks that gives rides up and running which needs a new transmission.
“You don’t have to give but if you want to it is all going a good place,” Sandys said.
Sandys is long time member of the museum and said he is just happy that he can help out.
Along with the museum, he is still a volunteer at the Ashburton Volunteer Fire Brigade where he does operational support.
Sandys will keep the lights on to at least December 27, and on until midnight each day. He said the best viewing time is around 10pm.
Christmas is nearly upon us, and as those of us who observe it prepare to exchange gifts and spend time with family and friends, people all over the country and across the world will be or are already observing various holidays and festivals. For example, Hanukkah begins this weekend, Kwanzaa starts on the 26th, and Ōmisoka, Japanese New Year’s Eve, is not far away.
These are only a few; countless other secular and religious events fall within the month of December, making it the month with the largest number of such observances out of all.
Overall, the holiday season is a time of coming together and connecting with one another, and each of us have different ways of expressing this. When it comes to Christmas, the traditions of gift-giving, feasting, decorating, and music immediately spring to mind.
While Christmas is understandably not for everyone, especially if you have a gripe against the inescapability of Christmas music for instance, this holiday has played an important role in bringing a great many Ashburtonians together for over a hundred years.
With the success of the Ashburton District Council’s annual Light up the Night Christmas event, it had us Art Gallery and Museum staff wondering: how long has Ashburton been holding celebrations like this?
One of the earliest documented public Christmas gatherings I could find reference to in newspaper archives comes from 1878, the year Ashburton got its first newspaper, but it’s not the sort of Christmas celebration you would naturally expect.
On July 16, 1878, Ashburton’s Evening Echo newspaper reported that a gift auction and bazaar was held to raise funds for the Presbyterian Church, at which there was “a magnificent illuminated Christmas tree” as well as refreshments, and music.
The event, which was held in Ashburton’s brand new Town Hall on East Street, was highly attended and many people freely brought gift contributions such as
“sacks of potatoes, wheat, and oats, forest trees and shrubs”.
A great number of live animals such as pigs, sheep, and chickens were also brought.
The hall was lit with rows of Chinese lanterns and decorated with flags, and several stalls were set up and stocked with a great variety of goods.
Thomas Bullock, a well-known early Ashburton public figure and businessman, lent his expertise as an auctioneer for the evening.
The Ashburton Brass Band occupied the Town Hall’s gallery during the gift auction, and it was noted that the young band had made “great progress” since its recent formation.
In December 1878, a businesswoman by the name of Mrs Morey, of Mrs Morey’s Fancy Repository, Tancred Street, organised a Christmas treat for children which was to be held on Christmas Eve.
This exciting affair involved the stocking
of a Christmas tree and the distribution of “not less than 1000 prizes” including dolls and dollhouses, writing desks, cricket bats and balls, garden tools, tea sets, and more.
It sounds like Mrs Morey was set for success judging by the tempting items on offer, but surprisingly her Christmas prizegiving didn’t go as well as she would have hoped.
A notice appeared in the Echo three days after the event, which stated:
“Mrs Morey begs to intimate that, in consequence of the great rush on Christmas Eve, and the consequent disappointment of many of the the ticket-holders, she has determined to hold another distribution of Christmas and New Year Gifts on January 30, 1879. All persons holding tickets can have them exchanged for new ones, or the money returned, on application to Mrs Morey.”
Judging by this notice, it sounds like the “great rush” may have resulted in many of the prizes she stocked having been sold before the prizegiving, which understandably would have been quite the disappointment for some.
For Mrs Morey, however, it was probably a stroke of luck; after all, while she may have not been motivated by profit, she would have made a pretty penny nonetheless.
But, when it came time for her second Christmas tree event on January 30, another notice in the newspaper came out and explained that, yet again, the prizegiving was to be postponed: “Mrs Morey, not having returned from the North in time with the new goods for the Christmas Tree to be held on the 30th January, it is unavoidably postponed till about the 14th of February, in order to make the VERY BEST ARRANGEMENTS. Lots of BEAUTIFUL GOODS COMING.”
You just know that by this point, the children who had waited for weeks, months even, might have been near-inconsolable, and just imagine what the parents had to put up with!
Another postponement was announced, this time until 20 February, and then another date was set for 20 March, “owing to the small number of tickets sold”.
By this point, the children of Ashburton would have been catatonic with grief, and just imagine the parents’ reactions!
By this point, Mrs Morey was desperately trying to draw attention to the event; the tagline for each postponement notice went from simply saying “Christmas Tree”, to a much more exciting version with a larger typeface that read: “CHRISTMAS TREE!!!”
Finally, Mrs Morey’s Christmas Tree and Bazaar event went ahead in March, and at long last, the ticket holders and their children could (presumably) rest easy.
But imagine for a moment, being one of the children at the long-awaited prizegiving, for which you had languished for months to attend, only to receive the worst prize of the bunch. I am sure that at least one of the ticket holders must have had some strong words for Mrs Morey after that affair.
On a final note, it’s worth mentioning that in the time that it took for Mrs Morey’s Bazaar to actually happen, the Evening Echo newspaper re-branded and became the Ashburton Herald!
So clearly while she was clearly no Santa Claus when it came to punctuality and organisation, we can at least admire Mrs Morey for sticking with it and delivering on her promises, eventually.
Material for this page is co-ordinated by the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum. Articles from other organisations are welcomed, as is any feedback on what appears.
Email: museum@ adc.govt.nz Mail: PO Box 94, Ashburton 7700 Phone: 307-7890
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When promising jockey Megan Taylor went to work in Ashburton on Thursday, no one could have anticipated she wouldn’t come home.
But that’s what we’re all now trying to comprehend after Taylor, 26, died after being caught in a devastating four-horse fall.
The apprentice rider from Christchurch fell off her mount before another horse apparently struck her as she lay on the track.
It’s another terrible loss of a life for a jockey, whose death has created a hole in not only her family, but also that of her second whanau – the tight-knit racing community
It’s a community with experience of dealing with the ultimate tragedy, with Taylor becoming the third jockey to die on the Ashburton Racecourse turf in
Daryl Holdenthe past 40 years. That figure accounts for almost half of the jockey deaths nationally during that time-period.
Naturally, the death has left the racing fraternity and the hard-working officials and volunteers at the Ashburton Racecourse feeling numb and lost.
But, as Taylor’s colleague Jason Laking said after riding in Thursday’s fateful race, jockeys know the risks of their sport.
And he’s right. After all, there are very few occupations where an ambulance follows you about while you’re working, highlighting the dangers of the horse-rid-
ing profession.
Still, in no way does that make it any easier to accept or understand this latest tragedy for which everyone will have questions.
his horse’s riding iron, he was dragged a sickening 900m drag along the track. His 46kg body flopped along, his head banged on the ground.
He was a just a boy with his
It’s another terrible loss of a life for a jockey, whose death has created a hole in not only her family, but also that of her second whanau – the tight-knit racing community
Why did it happen? Why Taylor? Why again in Ashburton?
There are no easy answers or explanations, just as there weren’t any for a horrific New Zealand race meeting death nearly 20 years ago when 16-year-old jockey Sam McRae died in Riverton in Southland. His foot became entangled in
world and career in front of him, but a few hours later he died in Southland Hospital. It was the type of death that no jockey likes to talk about.
Retired champion rider
Lance O’Sullivan, who had nearly 14,000 career rides, once said that the thought of being dragged was so horrific that
jockeys never discussed it. Ever. And I remember the McRae incident quite clearly. I remember, too, interviewing his sister Casey a few years later after she had set up a memorial at the course to remember her young brother.
Casey, who was in New York when her brother died and had to say goodbye to him over the phone, said it was important to always remember jockeys that gave it all their all for the love of the industry before being struck down in the cruellest way imaginable.
“We should never forget jockeys who die at race meetings,’’ Casey told me.
She’s right, of course, which is why the racing family will grieve as one for a woman and a jockey who died doing what she loved but is now gone way too early and so unfairly at that.
RIP Megan Taylor.
Last Christmas was a complete disaster for me.
I awoke excitedly as a then 64-year-old man would, and checked under the tree. YES, Santa had been, as advertised.
I hurriedly shredded the wrapping carefully assembled by elves paid below-award rates at the North Pole, and a feeling of dismay and emptiness filled my heart.
But more of that later.
I’m a build-up kinda guy.
It’s the journey up to Christmas I really love. The day itself I can take or leave.
It’s the first hint of the decorations going up around town.
The festive adornments in shops.
The Christmas Parade.
The Ashburton Silver Band out carolling at various events.
Little kids full of wonder
The seasonal tunes on the radio.
Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea has long been on the top five list. “Driving home for Christmas, I can’t wait to see their faces,” that vibe fills me with a curious emotion of longing, losing, hope and gratitude. For what is now and that which has been.
I grew up in the days of the Hays Santa Parade. That was always a magical time. The professional floats, the big heads, the razzmatazz.
On the bike immediately the school bell rang at Hamptead, and up to Hays to be fitted for a costume.
Working after school for weeks in Santa’s Grotto at Hays operating Jumbo the Lucky Dip Elephant.
It was all a bunch of fun. What seemed really special then were Friday nights.
There was no weekend retail trading back then and late night Friday until 9pm in Ashburton was a big deal. A really big deal. Everyone hung out for it.
The boys would be out cruising in their souped up, lowered Mk 1 Zephyrs with noisy exhausts to impress the ladies
Up and down East Street. Back and forth. And if a lady was impressed enough, there was always the possibility of a quiet snog parked up under the bridge approach. I think the Tinwald side was the most popular and discreet.
For others sticking to the bright lights, there might be a new LP purchase from Warner Harris, or a pair of purple flared strides from Fab 40.
There was always a “good stir” going on somewhere around town and the grapevine soon took care of the guest list.
Once you’d hit the right street, the cars lined up on the road in both directions, the Doobie Brothers blaring out of the Murphy Series 9 stereo, and the congregations knocking back the Wards and Cold Duck spilling off the patio and on to the front lawn was a pretty good giveaway as to the scene of the action.
Harmless Ashburton fun, mid 70s style.
And most of those youths are now this town’s seniors. Scary stuff.
Some might even have known someone who’d won a staggering lazy thousand in the Golden Kiwi. Our first real national lottery.
Now, back to the disaster that was last Christmas.
On examining the contents of the elf-wrapped parcel, I was perplexed that it contained a job lot of incontinence pads.
It completely destroyed the day, but in the hours days and weeks that followed I finally worked it out.
In the excitement of it all I “thought” Santa had asked “Have you been a good boy this year”?
I answered “Depends”.
What Santa had actually asked was, “and what would you like for Christmas Peter?”
It was an honest mistake.
Broadcaster Peter Mac is Ashburton born and bred and the afternoon host on the Hokonui Radio Network. The views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect the opinion of his employer or the Ashburton Guardian.
Good deeds deserve recognition.
The generosity of the Originals Motorcycle Club has been recognisd by the Child Cancer Foundation.
The Originals have been presented with a prestigious national award for their contribution to the work of the foundation.
In addition to their social activities the Originals have for many years organised events aimed at promoting all aspects of motorcycling and providing public awareness and entertainment.
Their major events have been annual Show and Shine displays and the biennial Ashburton Motorcycle Shows which are highly regarded within the motorcycling community.
These gatherings happen because of the huge voluntary efforts of the members and their partners.
The Originals have always passed on any profits for charitable purposes.
For at least 10 years their chosen Charity has been The Child Cancer Foundation.
Presenting the award local foundation member Sue Green said as well as providing financial assistance the Originals have also drawn attention to the objectives and work of The Child Cancer Foundation.
Originals member Gerald Mckenzie says his club feels overwhelmed and honoured.
A British van driver named Ben drove very slowly past the speed camera where he was previously nabbed for exceeding the speed limit.
Ben was determined not to
get caught again.
But as he slowly passed the speed camera he couldn’t help himself and using both hands for added effect made a rude sign at the camera.
Unfortunately for Ben his hands off the wheel gesture was caught on film and a few days later he received a prosecution in the mail for “failing to keep proper control of his vehicle”.
We think Ben has now adopted the old adage “smile, you’re on candid camera”.
Before and after
Soon after Steveo Trudgeon got his 1990 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy he displayed it at the Originals Wheels Week Show and Shine earlier this year.
On that occasion Steveo’s daughter Miah proudly sat on her dad’s bike.
Come the Ashburton Motorcycle Show and Steveo had the bike on display again, but looking quite different.
In between times it had the Steveo treatment, its appearance changed by its owner with help from friends.
Always a nice bike the end result is stunning and not surprisingly the Harley attracted lots of interest, positive comments and an award.
We would like to sincerely thank each and every local business that took part in Santa’s Little Helpers and for taking their time to buy such an array of wonderful presents and the support shown to the St Vincent De Paul.
Our thanks also have to go to Santa, who – even though this is his busiest time of year – spent a couple of days with our Guardian ‘angels’, Sonia, Karen and Nancye. We would also like to thank the hundreds of children that took the time to write to us expressing interest in the Santa’s little helper role ... some very heartfelt letters indeed.
Deigns to effect a comedown when among swindlers (11)
Backbone found round the turn, flat out (6)
No end of good fortune is concerned with riches (5)
Put-up places where lawyers have their chambers (4)
Rotten rating? Yes: heartless - strike back! (7)
Such as fill forms (female) (11)
Arrives at, and wakes up (5,2)
Things which help and improve decent society initially (4)
Operatic heroine or man, perhaps (5)
Lessen a degree in the tea-break (5)
Stops to hold one in? (5)
Passing the time by using the necessary (8)
Too little egg production between carpet and floor! (8)
Fine powder: there’s a key to its growth (3)
Way of counting, it is claimed, is incorrect (7)
No longer sleeping, the street is surrounded by song (5)
Is a merchant, and hands out cards (5)
Fear of an intrusion in half the outdoor meal (5)
How does one name what is paid by visitor? (4)
ARIES (Mar 21-Apr 19): Those who share your interest may not do so with the same amount of passion as you. You’ll be most effective and influential when you temper your enthusiasm to their level, plus one.
TAURUS (Apr 20-May 20): Get your hands dirty in the endeavour. It’s the only way to learn that what works, works. You don’t have to know why. You’ll make incredibly complicated things happen by flipping a few switches.
GEMINI (May 21-Jun 21): Your focus has more power than usual, and you’ll benefit from deciding early in the day what you’re going to think and how you’re going to feel. Too contrived? It’s a contrivance that works wonders for you.
CANCER (Jun 22-Jul 22): Thoughts create currents that actions get swept into. Flow a multitude of powerful thoughts in the same direction. Thoughts that contradict, rub or collide with each other can cause paralysing turbulence.
LEO (Jul 23-Aug 22): The usual methods will fall flat. They are too familiar. People need excitement and risk. Strangely, you’ll be more effective when you care less about the effect.
VIRGO (Aug 23-Sep 22): In the TV series of life, those involved in your storyline have their own spinoff shows, too. You don’t think of yourself as being in the centre of it all, and because of this, everyone around you feels like a star.
LIBRA (Sep 23-Oct 23): Physically finishing the task won’t be enough to get the sense of completion you desire. Stick around to witness how your work is received. Are you up to getting feedback? It will make you proud.
SCORPIO (Oct 24-Nov 21): Once again, you’ll find yourself in over your head. The fish don’t care, and neither should you. Even if this were as deep as the Mariana Trench, you’d still be swimming, as you do, near the top.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22-Dec 21): Not everyone is as skilled in getting along as you are, but you’ll provide good modelling as you acknowledge the validity of other’s wants and needs, even when you personally cannot relate to them.
CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan 19): You’re not sure if the story you hear today is true. You’re not even sure how to go about finding out either way. Wander discretely away from drama, and go where more honesty and evidence exists.
AQUARIUS (Jan 20-Feb 18): You’ve seen love strike like a bolt from beyond right onto the movie set. Here comes something else... a version of love developed with trust, effort and compromise, which is somehow every bit as electric.
PISCES (Feb 19-Mar 20): You can’t control what happened before you got on the scene, but you feel partially responsible for what happens after you leave. This is why you exercise as much influence for good as you can while you’re there.
Sandwiched between the sea and the Ligurian hills, Genoa spreads upwards from the port, becoming a very vertical city on her steeper slopes. History oozes from her solid bones; there is a deep sense of grandeur to Genoa’s back-story, in addition to the peeling paint and graffiti scrawl.
Strolling the streets, it’s the heady mix of high-density faded glory, sparkling Mediterranean light and deep lanes that all strike a strong first impression.
Charles Dickens remarked in 1844, “A city of the strangest contrasts”. Renaissance palaces, grand 19th-century boulevards and gilded Baroque churches are squeezed alongside, and on top of, a tumbling tangle of steep medieval streets.
Begin your city exploratory down in Porto Antico, the time-honoured Old Port, which had become notoriously tatty until Renzo Piano gave it a makeover to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus sailing off to the Americas from this port.
Redesigned to be a cultural hub for the city, it’s where many locals choose to take their passeggiata (evening stroll). At Porto Antico’s core, there’s a variety of structures designed by Renzo Piano including the Biosphere, containing an unexpected tropical forest.
But it’s the Bigo Panoramic Lift which is the biggest draw, a huge spider-like contraption, with a viewing cabin that shoots you up 40 metres for a fabulous view over the glinting Mediterranean.
By Mike YardleyFor the ultimate museum experience, Galata Museo del Mare – despite its modern exterior – begins its exhibition before you even walk in, with Italy’s largest submarine, Nazario Sauro, floating right outside the front door. Galata Maritime Museum is the biggest museum of its kind in the Mediterranean and a must if you’re wanting to understand more of Genoa’s sea-faring past.
With high-tech displays, real-life replica galleons and over 6000 original artefacts, it’s a maritime head swirl. Right next door, the famous “acquario,” the biggest in Europe with over 10,000 square metres and 5000 sea creatures –dedicated to conservation and education.
Another essential experience is to step inside the gracious Palazzo
di San Giorgio. Its exterior is lustily clad in frescoes that were added about 100 years ago, but the building was actually built in 1260 by the family of the first Doge of Genova.
Materials were used from the demolition of the Venetian embassy in Constantinople. Stone lions – the emblem of Venice’s patron St Mark – were displayed as trophies on the facade by her bitter rival, the Republic of Genova.
The palace’s most famous resident was none other than Marco Polo, who was an inmate in the building’s prison, from 1296 to 1299. He was arrested for commanding a Venetian galley in a war against Genova. While there, he told tales of his travels through Asia to his fellow prisoners and
the guards alike. Before long, all of Europe was in the know.
After taking my fill of the old port, I ventured into the Medieval Quarter, which is one of Europe’s largest. Get ready to get lost in this vast cobweb of caruggi (alleys) that thread their way up, down and across the centre of the city.
Like little canyons, the caruggi are flanked with pastel-hued buildings as high as six storeys, while the alleys are in many places no wider than a couple of metres.
Gazing up at the washing pegged on lines everywhere, there’s no mistaking that these cavernous lanes are still like a honeycomb of unvarnished Genovese life, they’re
to a hive of tucked away
labyrinth of the old city.
Culinary highlights? As Liguria’s capital and a monstrous port city, it’s only natural that Neptune’s bounty sets the table. Expect plenty of cod, mussels, even cuttlefish on the menu.
The signature dish is burrida, a slow-cooked stew with monkfish, squid, king prawns, mussels, garlic, onion and tomato. If you’ve got the palate for it, you’ll find deliciously salty anchovies made every which way.
Street food is also popular in Genova – with fried fish being the runaway favourite.
Do not miss San Lorenzo Cathedral. Its black-and-white zebrastriped Gothic exterior continues to impress once you’ve passed the stone lions and headed inside.
First consecrated in 1188, the
cathedral’s continued existence is largely due to the dud World War Two British bomb that failed to ignite in 1941. Remarkably, it still sits to the right of the nave like a vintage curio.
Nearby, I wandered inside the small stone house, identified in the nineteenth century as the home of the Colombus family, from 1455 and 1470, when the great explorer was a small boy.
It is a small memorial to the great navigator, inside which displays and objects tell his story and, above all, recount his daily life.
Fancy some prestigious palazzo perving? I’m a sucker for extravagant architecture and Genova lays it on thick.
Inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2006, the city’s
main shopping street, Via Garibaldi, which was formerly known as Strada Nuova. Along with neighbouring Via Cairoli and Via Balbi – this simple walking circuit through Strada Nuove and Genoa’s Old Town unveils over 40 truly epic Renaissance and Baroque palazzi stemming from the 16th centur y. Owned by the Who’s Who of old-school Genovese society, many have been repurposed as galleries and museums.
Nearby, another landmark stop to fill your Insta feed is the frothy Piazza de Ferrari. Genova’s fountain-embellished piazza is ringed by magnificently ornate buildings including the opera house, Teatro Carlo Felice, and the art nouveau blockbuster, Palazzo della Borsa, which was previously Italy’s stock exchange.
What stood out: Genova is a remarkably vertical city, rising up from the gleaming Mediterranean. Pack your flip-top head.
Good destination for: Lovers of history, culture, amazing architecture and Italian food.
Famous food? If you’re a fan of pesto – a sauce made with pine nuts,
basil, oil, garlic and cheese – you’ll be in mecca as Genova is the birthplace of the savoury green staple.
Prepare to get lost: Getting lost is inevitable in the caruggi. But every alleyway is fascinating in this brooding labyrinth of the old city.
San Diego Legion has extended the outstanding career of former Mid Canterbury All Black, Isaac Ross.
Ross, who’s been player/coach of Austin Gilgronis, a Texan franchise named after a popular cocktail, starts his pre-season training with the Legion on January 16.
In signing the contract, Ross, 38, said he should’ve retired five years ago but loves rugby too much and still enjoys playing.
“I haven’t had too many injuries over the years and my body is still standing up to competition,” he said.
Home at Lagmhor this week, Ross said the standard of rugby in the United States is “somewhere between the National Provincial Championship (NPC) and Heartland”.
The San Diego Legion, captained by former All Black, Ma’a Nonu, plays in the national competition which is divided into western and eastern divisions.
Legion competes in home and away games against five other western teams and then plays six one-round matches with eastern division sides.
“Each year the quality of play is improving, helped by the availability of overseas players,” he said.
By Malcolm HopwoodCanterbury at blindside flanker against South Canterbury. From then on, at 2.01 metres, he was in the heart of the Crusaders and All Black scrum.
But, even with his stature, there was stiff competition for line-out positions. Ali Williams relocated from the Blues to Christchurch for a season, Brad Thorn was attracted back to rugby from league and Chris Jack and a young Sam Whitelock started to show their class.
“I struggled for game time but played for New Zealand Maoris,” he said.
In 2008 Isaac shifted to Dunedin to play for the Highlanders under Ashburton coaches, Glenn Moore and Murray Roulston. “We called ourselves ‘the replacements’ because most of the team were
“I ran the fat man’s track up the middle and, after a Nonu break, scored at the end of the line. It was a good team try,” he said.
Isaac took the ball about 10 metres out although, in the years that followed, it lengthened to a Usain Bolt Olympic sprint.
“I came up against Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha. They were a fearsome duo. Botha was a monster,” Isaac said.
While the World Cup in New Zealand was his goal, his international career flickered the following season. Chris Jack, Brad Thorn and Sam Whitelock were preferred for the Crusaders and Isaac struggled to get game time.
He represented NZ Maoris and started to search overseas to further his career. Japan looked a strong option but, before he left, he played a season with the Chiefs. With the family relocated to Hamilton, he joined the “X-factor team”.
“They had great players with plenty of strike power but didn’t quite succeed under Ian Foster,” he said. “He was a great man but not very innovative. We kept doing the same thing all the time. My game didn’t grow.”
guage. Isaac discovered their sentence structure was similar to Maori and he gradually started to master Japanese.
“Rugby was an avenue for our adventure and an opportunity for us to explore the world,” he said.
In 2017 they applied to become dual citizens which required demanding reading, writing and speaking skills. They succeeded which means they can keep their options open as their youngest children, Noah and Isaiah, were born there.
“We want to keep the connection as Japan is home for those two,” he said.
In the meantime Isaac and his family face the challenge of living in the US and the opportunities it brings. They are five minutes from the Pacific coast and its Baywatch attraction.
“We can’t be gypsies all our lives so we have to make decisions about our future,” he said.
The United States has secured the Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the women’s World Cup two years’ later and Isaac would like to be part of it.
As well as Nonu, the team is coached by Danny Lee, who played two tests for the All Blacks earlier this century.
“Rugby in the US is a lot slower. It’s a collision based game with plenty of stoppages. It’s quite good for me,” he admits.
Isaac, son of Jock and Christine Ross, former All Black and Black Fern representatives, was “born with a rugby ball in my hand”. He was a first-five and goal kicker at the age of 10 but moved into the scrum when he reached Timaru Boys’ High (TBHS).
“Mid Canterbury is home and Lagmhor is where my blood is,” he said. “Dad went to TBHS and wanted me to have a cultural experience there.”
Following school, Isaac moved to Canterbury where he enrolled in Maori studies at Christchurch Polytechnic. But he was soon invited to join the Crusaders International Academy, the cradle for NPC and the franchise.
He joined the wider training group in 2006, the year he played his first game for
rejects from the draft,” he said.
“There were no egos, we played as a team.”
Isaac and his partner, Arnia, returned to Christchurch for the NPC season and the Crusaders the following year.
“It was the start of their dynasty and I decided to give rugby a good go. I had wonderful support from coach, Rob Penney.”
He recalls it was exciting times. Rugby had been professional for less than a decade and he saw it as a pathway to the future. “It was in my DNA to play,” he said. “I wanted to teach Maori, but I was obsessed with rugby.”
His goal was to make the All Blacks for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand but his selection came two years earlier.
He was elevated to the ABs in 2009 and played eight tests throughout the season, in the tri-nations in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. He scored a try against the Springboks in Durban and was told it was the first time in 50 years a lock had added five points.
By then Isaac and Arnia had a young family – Stanley was three and Franklin one – and they moved to Tokyo Bay, near Disneyland where Isaac signed a contract to play for NTT Communications.
“We had a five-month pre-season, four months playing and three months off which coincides with the New Zealand summer,” he said. “It suited us.”
They sent Stanley to a Japanese school so he could be fluent in the lan-
The players who’ll represent the US are currently at high school or youth academies and “we need to get to them now”, he said.
“I’d like to
DNA and he wants to continue playing competitively overseas until the age of 40.
Dad (Jock) is the beacon of our family. When he speaks we listen “
use my talent as a teacher, player and coach and work with them. I’m passionate about young people and a massive advocate for challenge.”
Looking at next year’s World Cup, he believes the ABs will be competitive. “To be fair, they’re coming through change. They have to learn to simplify their game and play to their strengths,” he said.
“Once they play with belief and instinct they can win.”
Isaac is enjoying being home with the folks. He confesses they brought him up to be grateful and humble.
“Dad (Jock) is the beacon of our family. When he speaks we listen,” he said.
And there’s another reason why he chose his parents or they chose him.
They’re a great combination. “Dad gave me the body and mum the skills,” Isaac said.
Exercise your grey cells with our weekly sports crossword and quiz
Across
1 Led Blues to inaugural Super Rugby Pacific final (7)
5 Black Caps member Test cricket’s “perfect 10” club (5)
8 English-born Black Caps ODI batting stalwart 1995 -2001 (5)
9 Portuguese football legend playing in fifth World Cup (7)
11 Dashing NZ keeper/batsman 1970s, Wadsworth (3)
12 Taranaki lock made 2005
All Blacks Test debut before playing Super rugby (5)
14 Dual World Cup-winning All Blacks hooker (7)
17 US men’s basketball team,- Pacers (7)
19 Blues All Black centre/wing 2015-16 (5)
23 Multi world title-winning Aussie boxer nicknamed “Master Blaster”, initials (2)
24 Warriors’ big-name All Black signing for inaugural Aussie league campaign (6)
25 Decorated White Ferns cricket captain (6)
26 All Blacks’ celebrated “Super Sid”, initials (2)
27 Highly-touted Crusaders hooker prospect (4)
29 ABs legend had unbeaten run as captain 1987 -90 (8)
31 Black Caps opener made Test debut v Windies 2020 (5)
32 Historic Christchurch motor racing circuit (6)
1 NZ spinner claimed Test debut hattrick v Pakistan 1976 (9)
2 French four-time FI world champion 1985-93 (5)
© Copyright Peter Thomson 2022
1. Kane Williamson captained the NZ Test side on 38 occasions, how many wins did he record? a) 20 b) 21 c) 22 2. One cricketer features in the list of finalists for the Sportsman of the Year at the Halbergs? Who is he? a) Kane Williamson b) Ajaz Patel c) Decon Conway 3. Tayle Bruce has a nomination for Sportswoman of the Year, for her efforts in which sport? a) Hockey b) Lawn Bowls c) Skiing-Snowboard 4. How many FIFA World Cups has Argentinian star, Lionel Messi played in? a) 4 b) 5 c) 6
3
Former Black Caps captain, Germon (3)
4 Rising Kiwi golfer, Denzil – (7) 5 Golf term, high (3)
6 Blues’ newly-minted All Black winger (5)
7 Wellington Lions’ NPC titlewinning coach, Crowley (3) 10 Rugby front-rower’s playing number (3) 13 One-cap Chiefs All Black midfielder 2015 (6) 15 Cricket delivery, ball (3) 16 Country slated to host 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup, abbrev (3) 18
27
28
Otago All Black halfback early 1970s, Colling (3)
– spinner (3)
2011 World Cup-winning Solution No 134
6. Morocco will face who in the third and fourth play-off of the Football World Cup? a) Croatia b) Brazil c) England
8. Who will coach the Barbarians when they take on the World XI in May next year?
All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 S U M N E R W R I G H T O C R H O P A R M C K E C H N I E T U I E A E T E M R A Y G E N I A I M V D D N P A C E I N G R A M G O W L E R L U O G L M L E H M A N N E D G A R E M D O R N O C R O S S A N A Y O N O N K O C S W E D E N Y V E T T E
a) Warren Gatland b) Dave Rennie c) Eddie Jones
Black lock, Williams (3)
NZR’s professional rugby
20 Selection of previous pu zzles available as printable PDFs Email: peter@sportswordcentral.com
Answers: 1. c) 22, 2. b) Ajaz Patel, 3. c) Lawn Bowls, 4. b) 5, 5. c) The Breakers, 6. a) Croatia, 7. b) Ireland, 8. c) Eddie Jones.
The Guardian’s sports wrap
calling time on a week of sport
Tom Blacklow’s taking one of his great loves and turning it into an opportunity to raise money for a great cause next week.
And if the club captain of the Ashburton Golf Club has his way, he’ll debunk a few common misconceptions about the sport while he’s at it.
The 29-year-old will tackle The Longest Day 2022 challenge on Thursday where he, along with some fellow club members, will take on 72 holes of golf within the one day – testing both the body, the mind and the golfing prowess along the way with all funds raised heading to the Cancer Society.
“It’s my first year as club captain and I wanted to contribute something that not only benefits the club, but also a charity that’s really important to a lot of people,” Blacklow said.
“I think everyone can relate to someone who has been impacted by cancer and I’d like to see this progress over the years with perhaps a different charity being the focus each year as we go on.
“I’ve got one more year as club captain, so we’ll definitely be doing something similar again next year.”
Kicking off at 6am on Thursday, December 22, Blacklow will be joined by eight of his fellow Ashburton club members as he goes about the challenge with playing groups of three setting out for each of the four rounds of golf. Those playing alongside him range from 16 and 17-yearold Ashburton College students to players in their 50s.
A frequent golfer already, he’s had to put things to the test in recent weeks to see whether he’s going to be up to it.
“I gave myself a little taste-test last week to see how quickly I could get through 18-holes and it was just under two hours. We might be a little bit slower by the time we get to the last one, but we should be able to get it all in, I’m hoping.”
With a fundraising page al-
ready up and running and with more than $1000 in the kitty already the goal is to grow that substantially during the day through various challenges and other events happening.
Golfers and non-golfers are invited to come along and play their part taking on what’s dubbed as Donation Golf where monetary values are assigned to various outcomes. A hole-in-one for example carries a $100 donation while an out of bounds shot will incur a $2 donation with buckets around the course for players to make their contributions. Blacklow will play to the rules over the entirety of his 72 holes.
Players who come along and take part can choose to play either three, nine or 18 holes.
“ We’d love to see as many people there as possible supporting it and tr y and turn it into a really fun event.
“Our club pro, Matt Davis is going to take on 36 holes, so it will be interesting to measure up with him and see how he goes. I’m looking forward to that.
“But for me it’s also about breaking the barriers down a bit about golf and showing that it’s not just a gentleman’s game anymore and getting some new people down and hopefully encouraging them to get out and play.”
The final round of the day is expected to be completed sometime after 6.45pm on Thursday and having as many people there to cheer the team home over that final hole would be fantastic according to Blacklow.
What: Longest Day Golf Challenge – 72 Holes in one day.
Where: Ashburton Golf Club
When: Thursday, November 22 starting at 6am and going right throughout the day.
Why: Raising funds for the Cancer Society. Everyday 71 Kiwis are diagnosed with cancer. Every donation received will go towards cancer research, prevention and support services for people who need it.
Seventy-six nominations have been made for the 2022 Halberg Awards.
The nominations are from 30 sporting codes for achievements within the last 12 months (December 1, 2021 to November 30, 2022).
The Sportsman of the Year has received the most nominations with 22 across 18 sports.
They include Winter Olympic freeski gold medallist Nico Porteous, Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen, All Black Ardie Savea, equestrian Tim Price, Kiwi rugby league star Joey Manu, Commonwealth Games cycling champion Aaron Gate, trampoline world champion Dylan Schmidt and squash player Paul Coll, jockey James McDonald and golfers Steven Alker and Ryan Fox.
There are 16 nominations from
12 sports for Sportswoman of the Year, including Olympic snowboarding champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Black Ferns Ruahei Demant, Portia Woodman and Theresa Fitzpatrick, current supreme Halberg Champion, kayaker Dame Lisa Carrington and 2013 supreme Halberg winner, golfer Lydia Ko.
There are 13 nominations for Para athlete/team of the Year including seven-time winner Dame Sophie Pascoe and Olympic ski racer Corey Peters.
The World Cup winning Black Ferns lead the nominations for the Team of the Year.
A shortlist of finalists will be announced in January with the Awards to be held in February.
Full list of nominations for the 60th Handa Halberg Awards
Sportsman on the Year (eligible for Supreme Halberg Award)
Aaron Gate (cycling - track), Ajaz Patel (cricket), Ardie Savea (rugby), Brendon Hartley (motorsport), Dylan Schmidt (gymnastics - trampoline), Fergus Jenkins (mixed martial arts), Hamish Kerr (athletics - high jump), Hayden Wilde (triathlon), James McDonald (horse racing), Jamie Reid (golf), Joey Manu (rugby league), Jordan Parry (rowing), Lewis Clareburt (swimming), Marko Stamenic (football), Nico Porteous (freeskiing), Paul Coll (squash), Ryan Fox (golf), Sam Gaze (cycling - mountain bike), Shane van Gisbergen (motorsport), Steve Alker (golf), Tim Price (equestrian), Tom Walsh (athletics - shot put).
Para Athlete/Para team of the Year (eligible for supreme Halberg Award)
Adam Hall (Para skiing), Anna Taylor (Para cycling), Cameron Leslie (Para swimming), Corey Peters (Para skiing), Devon Briggs (Para cycling), Eltje Malzbender (Para cycling), Holly Robinson
(Para athletics - javelin), Lisa Adams (athletics), Nicole Murray (Para cycling), Rachel Maia (Para sport climbing), Scott Martlew (Para sprint kayak), Dame Sophie Pascoe (Para swimming), Wheel Blacks (Wheelchair rugby).
Sportswoman of the Year (eligible for supreme Halberg Award)
Bronwyn Dibb (gymnastics - mini trampoline), Bryony Botha (cyclingtrack), Ellesse Andrews (cycling - track), Emma Twigg (rowing), Jess Hotter (skiing - freeride), Joelle King (squash), Jonelle Price (equestrian), Dame Lisa Carrington (sprint kayak), Lydia Ko (golf), Niamh Fisher-Black (cyclingroad), Portia Woodman (rugby), Raecene McGregor (rugby league), Ruahei Demant (rugby), Tayla Bruce (lawn bowls), Theresa Fitzpatrick (rugby), Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (skiing- snowboard).
Team of the Year (eligible for supreme Halberg Award)
Black Ferns (rugby), Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy (squashwomen’s doubles), Joelle King and Paul
Coll (squash - mixed doubles), Kerri Williams and Grace Prendergast (rowingpair), Matthew Walker, Edward Masters and Charles Murray (cycling - mountain bike enduro team), New Zealand Eventing Team (equestrian).
Ben Adams (Para skiing), Craig Palmer (cycling - men’s endurance track), Gary Hollywood (swimming), Gordon Walking (sprint kayak), Matt Toa (mixed martial arts), Mike Rodger (rowing), Sean Thompson (Skiing - snowboarding), Thomas Onley (Para swimming), Tommy Pyatt (Skiing - freeskiing), Wayne Smith (rugby).
Ben Westenberg (Para cycling), Cameron Gray (swimming), Gustav Legnavsky (skiing - freeski halfpipe), Jenna Hastings (cycling - downhill mountain bike), Jocelyn Hong (figure skating), Joshua Willmer (swimming), Ruby Andrews (skiing - freeskiing), Tepenisa Havea (athletics - shot/discus), Tara Vaughan (sprint kayak).
It’s an awful time of the year to be packing the bags to head away for a game of cricket but the Mid Canterbury Hawke Cup side know they have work to do this weekend if they’re to give themselves a shot at one of the sport’s most illustrious prizes.
Yesterday they trekked south to Invercargill where they’ll today face Southland in the second-round of the Hawke Cup for this season and they’ll do so knowing that victory, in whatever form, will leave them in a prime position to push for higher honours next year when the competition returns.
But that doesn’t make it any easier for the group to leave loved ones and family behind as well as working commitments for four days just a week out from Christmas.
“ We’ve asked a lot of them this weekend,” coach Bevan Ravenscroft said.
“It’s far from an ideal situation, but it’s also the cards we have been dealt so we just have to get on with it.
“Luckily it hasn’t impacted on the team too much so we will still be putting a really strong side out in the middle.”
Mid Canterbury’s first game ended up being abandoned with the baggy green and golds having neighbours South Canterbury on the ropes late on a Sunday evening before the wet weather set in.
They did however walk away with valuable first innings points and it’s those again that Ravenscroft is keen to see in the bank this weekend.
“Ideally, we’d get those first innings points tucked away and then look to push on from there, but I really think it will be when we come back next year for the other matches that we can really chase those outright victories.
“The first step is the first innings
stuff then take it from there.”
It’s been over a month since the match against South Canterbury and while club cricket has kept players ticking over, a match between the team and the Tech Stags a fortnight ago gave them a good blowout.
“It was a good day, just a chance to get everyone together and out in the middle and to test ourselves a bit.
“I thought the guys stood up really well, unfortunately Ben Innes was one of the standouts of the day but he’s unavailable due to work this weekend which is a real shame.”
A largely unchanged side will head out into the middle this morning with the selection pro-
cess this time around more focused on the batting side of the equation.
“We’ve stacked it a bit more in favour of the batting this weekend, we’ve got some serious firepower in that top order I think.”
Sam Clark will head into the match in red-hot form off the back of a 118-run effort last weekend while captain Des Kruger was also in good nick seven days ago scoring a half century.
“All the boys have been doing the job in the club stuff which is good and while it’s a strong batting line-up, there’s some strength to the bowling attack too.”
Harry McMillan will have the role of leading that attack but has a host of up and coming and
well-established players around him to help share the workload. Harry Jones, who took seven wickets against South Canterbury is again in the mix alongside Stags teammates Ryan Bell and Matt Tait who will also be expected to do plenty with the ball in hand.
“We are in a position where everyone, including our wicket-keeper can actually roll the arm over, so there’s a bit of variety there if we need it and the match demands it.”
The match kicks off this morning at 10.30am at Queens Park in Invercargill.
South Canterbury currently leads the Hawke Cup standings for the zone with a game in hand.
They’re on 12 competition
Des Kruger, Will Southby, Sam Clark, Ryan Bell, Harry Jones, Matt Tait, Devon Flannery, Satwant Singh, Angus Jemmett, Lachie Jemmett, Harry McMillan. Coach: Bevan Ravenscroft.
Scorer: Mike Southby.
points, with Mid Canterbury and Otago Country both on eight points and North Otago and Southland sit at the bottom, yet to get points on the board.
RNZ
Spark is dumping its sport coverage and leaving the sport streaming market.
It has reached a deal with TVNZ to “become the home of the majority of Spark Sport content”.
TVNZ will become the exclusive domestic broadcaster for all Black Caps, White Ferns and Super Smash matches for three years, from the start of the 202324 home summer until the end of the 2025-26 season.
The broadcaster described the deal as “massive” and its biggest in sports for years.
More than 300 international and domestic cricket matches will be screened live on a combination of TVNZ1 and Duke over the agreed three-year period.
In addition, the fixtures will also be streamed live on TVNZ+ with the new arrangement to officially start in July next year.
In making the decision to exit the sports streaming market, Spark noted escalating content rights costs and a broader range of investment opportunities across its business as the key drivers of the decision.
Spark CEO Jolie Hodson said “it has been challenging to reach
the scale we aspired to across the Spark Sport platform, with Covid causing major disruption to sporting codes globally just a year after launch.
“That slower than expected start, coupled with the escalating costs of content rights globally, makes it difficult to justify the type of investment Spark Sport requires when we have a wider range of investment opportunities across our broader business.”
“No new venture is without risk, and we recognise that this news will be disappointing for our valued customers and partners, and dedicated Spark Sport
team.”
The decision is also likely to mean job losses at Spark.
“As the Spark Sport platform winds down we will also be working with our people to look for redeployment opportunities across our broader business wherever possible,” Hodson said.
TVNZ would be investing more into TVNZ+ to accommodate the additional programming though the value of the investment was not disclosed.
“This is massive for TVNZ,” head of sport and events general manager Melody Robinson said.
“This is the biggest sports
deal TVNZ’s done for a very long time.”
“We’ve got a very complex piece of work that we’ll be doing over the next seven months to get everything ready for July.”
While TVNZ will be taking on more staff, there was no agreement in place to provide ongoing employment for Spark Sport’s employees.
Robinson said TVNZ was hoping most of Spark Sport’s content would come its way
“We’re really looking forward to those conversations finishing up, so we can find out what extra sport we’ve also got,” she said.
When you’ve lived and breathed the racing industry for most of your life, days like Thursday just hurt.
Irrelevant of which of the three codes of the industry you align yourself with news of a tragedy such as that of Megan Taylor’s passing at Ashburton following a race fall on Thursday afternoon hit home with a real sense of ferocity that leaves you reeling.
You can watch a thousand races in a row without incident. Nothing happens other than the norm, but then every now and then a situation like Thursday’s unfolds in front of you and it breaks through right to your very core.
I’d just sat down to watch the first couple of races from the meeting and witnessed the fall live. Having seen a number of falls over the years, immediately it felt like this one wasn’t good. And as news came through from the track about what was unfolding the harsh reality of horse racing really hit home. And that’s that it’s a dangerous sport.
You’re taking more than 600kg of pure equine muscle, throwing someone weighing less than one-tenth of the horse on their back and asking them to ride at speeds faster than 65kph while trying to poke and prod through gaps with barely centimetres to spare before you’re on top of other horses and jockeys doing exactly the same – it’s unforgiving.
Yet, I talk often with jockeys
about how they feel out there, and nerves are never part of the equation. They’re totally focused and know that they have to be to avoid the chance of error. It’s a finite science riding a racehorse, and one that only very few can actually manage.
But there are risks, as there are with any job and sadly on Thursday, a young woman who loved anything and everything to do with horses went to work doing the things she loved, but didn’t get to come home.
Barely through the infancy of her riding career, Megan was taken in an instant. And although it’s a cliché for such a tragedy – it really has left the industry, as a whole, reeling and devastated.
Racing is a tight community.
It’s one big family and if one person is hurting then you can guarantee that there are literally hundreds hurting for them.
Right now, it’s Megan’s family and friends who will be feeling it the hardest, but also in jockey rooms across New Zealand the silence will be palpable.
Those who were out on the track when the incident occurred will be wondering if they could have done anything to change the outcome.
Could they have shifted a little bit wider to create more room or did that decision they made 200 metres earlier had a direct impact on what unfolded. But it’s a fruitless self-argument. You can’t change it.
Instead, they’ll have to pick
themselves up somehow and get back to work. That’s going to be the tough part.
Racing resumed in the country yesterday in the North Island and will do the same again today, but tomorrow’s meeting at Gore where many of the South Island hoops who knew Megan well will be back out on the track doing what they love.
But they’ll be doing so without one of their own.
A life taken far too soon and a fierce reminder for all of us that although it’s easy to sit on the couch and bemoan a decision a jockey makes out on the track, they are literally putting their lives on the line every time they throw a leg over a horse and head to the starting gates.
The TAB’s no deductions rule for fixed odds betting will stay in place for summer racing and could become permanent.
The world-leading policy means punters are guaranteed the final field win or place price for any bet placed on either New Zealand or overseas racing, regardless of how many scratchings there are in that race after the bet is placed.
That differs enormously from the usual TAB policy, which is also standard practice for bookmakers worldwide, that final field dividends reduce for each scratching, with the amount the dividend is reduced decided by the scratched runner’s price.
That can be enormously frustrating for punters who think they have found a fair price only for their horse to win but their dividend to be halved or worse because of scratchings.
Faced with enormous competition from overseas bookmakers the NZ TAB started their no-deductions promotion in August initially to run for spring and end at the completion of New Zealand Cup week mid-November but it was extended and will be again, this time until the end of March.
When it was first introduced the no-deductions promotion was welcomed by Kiwi punters lucky enough to cash in on guaranteed and sometimes enormously inflated dividends but envious overseas punters questioned how it could possibly work.
Concerns were raised over integrity issues, hugely increased market percentages (horses all paying less) and the new policy costing the industry millions of dollars but none of those have become reality.
Love, Lizzie Richter
Race 7: Champagneandwine, Tom Martin, American Sniper, On Report
Race 8: Franco Marek, Get Up N Dance, Homebush Lad, Corravally Star
Race 9: Krystal Delight, He’s Santas Excuse, Sports Babe, Phone Tap
Race 10: Eurokash, Sods Law, Fast Whispering, Prince Teka
Race 11: Razor’s Edge, El Chico, Ajira, Kingsdown
Atom
BEST BET: Choco Lou (Race 3)
VALUE: Secret Cocktail (Race 2)
The All Whites may not have qualified for the FIFA World Cup, but New Zealand is well represented in every other part of the biggest sporting event on the globe.
Some staunch Kiwis here even argue that it would be hard to make the World Cup run smoothly without the Kiwi expertise.
The list of New Zealanders involved in Qatar stretches all the way to the top, from FIFA chief women’s officer Sarai Bareman and referee Matt Conger, to ball boys Taha and Umar Shameen on the pitch at Khalifa Stadium and volunteer Omar Saba from Auckland welcoming spectators at Education City Stadium.
Everywhere you look, there are Kiwis making the FIFA World Cup happen.
If you watch the final on Monday morning, you want to hope that Marc Williamson from Lincoln is having a good day, as the chief engineer at Lusail Stadium is responsible for making sure the equipment getting the pictures to your TV operates as it should.
And he is not the only one here from St Andrew’s College in Christchurch, with two other old boys also playing key technical roles at other stadiums.
Several New Zealanders will be part of the final action at Lusail Iconic Stadium, from the technical set up to the catering and managing the media at the stadium.
No Kiwi, however, is likely to be closer than Daniel Lammers from Rolleston, who is a volunteer in the FIFA media team at Lusail and will be on the pitch, only metres away from the players, providing support to the hundreds of photographers.
He feels lucky to have been on the field with superstars like Mes-
si, Ronaldo and Suarez, but says the volunteers are so busy they have little time to soak in what they are seeing.
“To keep the photographers off the field, the volunteers hold a rope, but during one Argentina game, it was like a tug-ofwar. The volunteers could barely hang onto the rope, because the photographers were trying to get closer to Messi,” Lammers said.
The 19-year-old is one of five New Zealanders among the 20,000 volunteers offering their time to run the FIFA World Cup.
Diane Weston, who moved to Doha from Tauranga, has taken time off from her nursing job to volunteer on the transport desk in the media centre.
Weston says it has been “mind-boggling” to see the scope of the organisation behind the World Cup.
IN EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY PHONE 111.
For all other medical assistance outside of normal hours please phone your general practice team, 24/7, to speak with a health professional who will give you free health advice on what to do or where to go if you need urgent care.
If you don’t have a regular general practice, call any GP team 24/7 for free telephone health advice.
Please bring your Community Services Card. All non-New Zealanders should bring their passport with them, New Zealanders should bring some form of ID.
For weekend and emergency
services please phone Methven Medical Centre on 302 8105 or Rakaia Medical Centre on 303 5002 for details on how to access the after-hours service each weekend.
Wises Pharmacy, Countdown Complex, East Street, will be open from 9am - 1pm Saturday, from 10am1pm Sunday.
Ashburton Rest Homes
Please contact directly for hours.
If you do not have or cannot contact your regular dentist, please phone 027 683 0679 for the name of the rostered weekend dentist in Christchurch. Hours 9am - 5pm, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
One of the many Kiwis recruited to get the stadiums ready is Cantabrian Kevin Clarke, who arrived in Qatar in May to set up media operations at Lusail Stadium.
Clarke, a veteran of many major sporting events, both as a media manager and a sports photographer, has been running the media operations across the 32 training venues once the tournament started.
“I know it sounds cliché but we are all living the dream here. If you love football, the World Cup is the pinnacle. I am privileged to be part of this event,” Clarke says.
Another New Zealand pinching himself every day is Chris Kemp, who has been the FIFA match commissioner at seven matches, including the semi-final between Argentina and Croatia.
“I do feel like a kid in a candy
store,” says the Aucklander, who has been rubbing shoulders with the likes of Messi and Kylian Mbappe.
“There are so many great football fan moments. When you see Messi juggling the ball only metres away in the tunnel, you really have to control yourself not to reach for your phone,” Kemp says.
The football administrator, works for the Oceania Football Confederation as their competitions director.
Kemp has been part of many FIFA age group tournaments, but Qatar is his first senior men’s World Cup. He says it was pretty special to experience his first game, Tunisia versus Denmark with OFC colleague and fellow Westlake Boys’ High school alumni Michael Song. Song was also recruited by
FIFA as match co-ordinator, and supports the teams in the leadup to the matches to make sure everything runs smoothly and the games kick off on time.
All the New Zealanders here are aware of the criticism the host country has received around the bidding process and human rights issues, but all say they have only experienced kindness and generosity, since they have been in the country.
“Things are not as black and white or as simple as everyone has made it out to be,” says Kevin Clarke, who is the first to admit that many aspects of Qatari society are far from perfect.
“But you have to live here to better understand the context and not just fly in and out for a couple of days and pass judgment like many journalists have done. Some of them haven’t even been to Qatar at all.”
Weston has been in Qatar for several years and says she has seen a steady improvement in the human rights situation.
“It is going slowly, but things are getting better.”
With the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia looming large in seven months’ time, most of the New Zealanders working in Qatar have started looking ahead at the World Cup on home soil.
Weston encourages anyone in New Zealand to get involved as a volunteer in the Women’s World Cup.
“The volunteering experience I have had here has been incredible. It has given me so many amazing memories, and I am sure it will be the same in New Zealand.”
Coen Lammers is attending the FIFA World Cup in Qatar for RNZ. Qatar will be the sixth Fifa World Cup he has covered.
Healthline is a free health advice service. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The toll-free number to call is 0800 611 116.
Healthline is staffed by registered nurses who are trained to assess health problems and offer advice over the phone. The service is free and confidential.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Call 0800 AA WORKS (0800 229 6757) or visit www.aa.org.nz for more information.
Mental Health - Call free on 0800 222 955. Ask for the Crisis Team.
Safe Care - 24hr Rape and Sexual Assault Crisis Support. Phone 03 364 8791
Victims Support Group 24hr - Freephone 0800 VICTIM (0800 842 846).
Direct dials to a volunteer.
Ashburton Office - 307 8409 week-days, 9am - 2pm, outside of these hours leave a message.
Alcohol Drug Help Line
Call us free on (0800 787 797). Lines open 10am - 10pm seven days.
Art Gallery
327 West Street, Ashburton, phone 308 1133.
Open daily: 10am – 4pm.
Ashburton Museum
327 West Street, Ashburton, phone 307 7890.
Open daily: 10am – 4pm.
Ashburton Public Library
Havelock Street. Ph 308 7192. Saturday: 10am - 1pm.
Sunday: 1pm - 4pm.
EA Networks Centre - Pools 20 River Terrace - phone 03 308 4020. WEEKEND HOURS: Sat and Sun 7am - 7pm. Public holidays 10am - 5pm.
Information Centre Methven - Saturday and public holidays 10am until 2.30pm. Phone 302 8955 or isite@ midcanterburynz.com
Dog, Stock & Noise Control
Ashburton District Council 03 307 7700 - 24hr service.
Animal Welfare Centre
All enquiries - phone 308 4432 or 027 3329286.
Veterinarians
WEEKEND EMERGENCIES
Please call your usual vet to be transferred to the emergency vet.
Saturday
Friday
24.5 13.4 10.6 15.0
Sunday Mountain weather hazards: Thunderstorm, Wind Chill. Cloudy. Rain at times, possibly heavy and thundery in the afternoon and evening.
Wind at 1000m: Light. Wind at 2000m: Light.
3.7
94.5 NE 22 2:24pm
5:13am 5:50pm 12:04pm 5:48am 6:20pm
12:20pm 6:04am 6:36pm 12:24am 12:51pm 6:39am 7:05pm
12:29am 12:51pm 6:42am 7:05pm
12:40am 1:07pm 6:55am 7:21pm 5:43am 9:15pm 5:43am 9:16pm 5:44am 9:16pm 2:03am 1:59pm 2:21am 3:06pm 2:41am 4:16pm
BAUGHEN, Gregory Ralph (Greg) –
On December 15, 2022, passed away at Terrace View Retirement Village, Ashburton, aged 81 years.
Dearly loved son of the late Bert and Edith Baughen. Loved brother and brotherin-law of Claire and Merv Tutty. Messages to the Baughen family, PO Box 472, Ashburton 7700.
Special thanks to the staff at Terrace View for their loving care of Greg. A service to celebrate Greg’s life will be held in Our Chapel, cnr East & Cox Streets, Ashburton on WEDNESDAY, December 21, commencing at 2.30pm, followed by cremation at the Ashburton Crematorium.
BedsRus and La-Z-Boy are the largest independent bedroom motion furniture specialists in the country, and we are looking to grow our team with the appointment of a Retail Salesperson at our Ashburton store.
The role is full time – 30 to 40 hours including weekends – undertaken on a shared roster. It will suit someone who has a target-driven attitude, thrives on providing a high quality of service and maintains solid customer relationships. Bring your excellent communication skills and a positive can-do attitude to this position. Candidates must be fit and able to undertake heavy lifting. Ability to work unsupervised is essential. We are looking for someone who is passionate, keen for a challenge and looking for growth. Company funded training, upskilling and development will be provided. We are passionate about our commitment to ensuring every Kiwi gets their perfect sleep and their best relaxation in our range of motion furniture and the successful candidate will be key to this success. Applicants for this position will either have a valid NZ work permit or NZ residency.
Please apply with CV & cover letter to: chris@bedsrus.co.nz
We will respond as soon as we’ve processed your application. Please note, only successful candidates will be notified
Don’t sleep on it … apply today and let your dreams begin.
Short-term shutdown maintenance Fitters and Fabricators needed for upcoming work with flexible start times between now and January at a local factory.
Applicants with a proven work history and NZQA qualifications need only apply.
4 to 6 weeks work is available with a strong possibility of extended contracts for the right applicants.
Excellent remuneration on offer.
This position is open to individuals, contractors and local engineering firms Please email gareth@mechforce.co.nz
FIREWOOD for sale: Green Bluegum $250 for 3.6 m³. Green Old Man Pine $220 for 3.6 m³. Phone Shane James Firewood. 0276113334.
315-RACECOURSE Road. Camping Gear, Diving gear, wetsuits, table tennis table and many household electrical, sporting, shed and garage items.. phone 021355379
GENERAL hire. Lawnmowers, chainsaws, concrete breakers, trailers, and more. All your DIY / party hire, call and see Ashburton U-Hire. 588 East Street. Open Monday-Friday 7.00am – 5.30pm; Saturday 7.30am - 5pm; Sunday 8.30am12.30pm - Phone 308 8061. www.ashburtonuhire.co.nz
SELL Toyota Corolla Station Wagon, 1500cc, 1994. G Touring Ltd. Nice Condition and Economical. Phone 033085193 or 0272049709.
WHEEL alignments at great prices. Maximise the life of your tyres with an alignment from Neumanns Tyre Services Ltd, 197 Wills Street. Phone 308 6737.
FISHING – long time collector of old / vintage fishing tackle is looking to fill gaps in his collection. Anything considered. Top prices paid. phone Steve 03 3242064.
GENUINE private cash buyer, wanting Falcons, Holdens, Valiants or any pre 1995 vehicles suitable for preservation. Phone 021 02914847 or 03 615 7930
COULL, Macmillan (Mac) –
On December 15, 2022, peacefully at Christchurch Hospital, surrounded by family, aged 91 years. Dearly loved husband of the late Joan, much loved father and father-in-law of Trish and Gordon Spite (Lincoln), David and Joanne Coull (Canada), Angie and Andrew Hendry (West Melton), treasured granddad of Davey and Vanessa Spite, Ben Coull, and Bridget Hendry. Special great-granddad of William, and Thomas Spite.
A loved brother and brotherin-law, uncle, and greatuncle. The family would like to thank Stephanie for her loving care and attention of our dear Dad. The family are exceptionally grateful to the wonderful staff at Park Lane Retirement Village for everything they have done for Dad over the past seven years. Special thanks also to the doctors and nurses of Ward A8 at Christchurch Hospital for their exceptional care and compassion. Messages may be addressed to The Family of the late Macmillan Coull, c/PO Box 39001, Christchurch 8545. The Funeral Service for Mac will be held in our Westpark Chapel, 467 Wairakei Road, Burnside, on WEDNESDAY, December 21 at 10am, interment thereafter at the Ashburton Cemetery, Bremners Road, Ashburton.
FRANCE, Richard Alexander (Moa Flat) –Peacefully, surrounded by family on Friday, December 16, 2022, aged 65 years. Dearly loved and cherished husband of Kerry, loved father and father-in-law of Morgan and Ruby, Justin and Jamie, Jackson and Alex, Ricki and Louise Nelson (Geraldine), cherished Grandad of Harry; Kahlia, Mack, Sylvie; Elliot, and Willow. Loved son and sonin-law of Alex* and Valda*, Murray* and Jill Walkham (Ashburton) loved brother and brother-in-law of Johanna* and Adrian Krammer (Napier), Hamish* and Susan (Christchurch), Andrew and Hisaka (Sawyers Bay), Stuart and Caroline Walkham (Ashburton), Joanne Howard (Westport), Ross Walkham (Christchurch), Ronda and Phil Chamberlain (Waimate), Neroli Walkham and Blair (Wellington), and loved Uncle of all his nieces and nephews. A service for Richard will be held at the West Otago Community Centre, 1 Suffolk Street, Tapanui, on Thursday, December 22, at 2pm, followed by a cuppa. Donations may be left at the service for Cancer Society NZ. Special thanks to the Oncology Unit and Ward 8C staff at Dunedin Hospital. Messages to france@yrless. nz or 1419 Moa Flat Road, RD2, Tapanui 9587.
PATERSON, Alma Hester (Nee: Styles) –Finally at peace on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, surrounded by love at Highfield Rest Home, Timaru. Dearly loved wife of the late Ian. Loved mum and mother-in-law of Margaret and John Chapman (Ashburton), Catherine (Timaru), Robert (Toby) (Cave), Grant and Michelle (Timaru), Cynthia (Cairns), and special friend of Patsy. Adored Gran of James, David, Laura and Nero; Sarah and Nick, Sam, and Kate; Thomas, Henry, and Mathew; Milla, and special Great-Gran of Millie. Loved sister and sister-in-law of Helen and Russell Cooper (both dec), Clarice, and Don Smith (dec), Forrester Styles (dec), Ross and Janice Styles. A service to celebrate Alma’s life will be held at Aoraki Funeral Services Chapel, 160 Mountain View Road, Timaru on MONDAY, December 19, 2022 at 1pm followed by interment at the Pleasant Point Cemetery. A livestream of the service is available, please emailoffice@aoraki.kiwi.nz or call on 6862148. Messages to: 202 Selwyn Street, Timaru 7910. Aoraki Funeral Services South Canterbury FDANZ.
