Recent weeks have seen Waitakere Ranges trails closed by rahui to combat Kauri Dieback. Taupo’s IRONMAN swim was cancelled due to water pollution. It’s got me thinking how athletes need to get active on conserving the spaces we play in.
Luck has a tragic tendency to breed complacency. A postponed deadline, an over ambitious event we somehow got through. They make us more likely to push our luck next time, rather than do the work that would avoid the risk.
Luck has a tragic tendency to breed complacency. A postponed deadline, an over ambitious event we somehow got through. They make us more likely to push our luck next time, rather than do the work that would avoid the risk.
That's Kiwis and the environment. We live amongst somewhat more of our global share of beautiful open space. We have relatively few people that we have to share it all with. So we are lazy. Maybe we bypass the odd Kauri Dieback wash station because, hey we run this trail all the time. We ‘don’t get involved in politics’.
As a group we are no worse than any other. We are not especially to blame for these problems. But we do have a very direct personal interest in maintaining our environment. We claim our enjoyment of it as one of the trophies of our sport.
Sure, we could just switch from the Waitaks’ to the Hunua’s (promising to be more careful). We could enter IRONMAN events with a sea swim. But look at the way things are going. Some sort of environmental issue is coming to all the trails near you sooner or later.
There’s a lot of good stuff happening in our community on this already. You get a Kauri planted when you do the Kauri Run. You help restore Motutapu Island by running The DUAL. We should all support these efforts. They make a positive contribution. They help secure our access to these places for years to come.
But maybe a useful thing to consider for 2018 is how we can all reach out further, do more. It could be anything - writing to your MP, donating to a conservation group, or picking up litter we see on the trail.
We must be ambassadors for the wild places we love. Otherwise we may find ourselves shut out of them.
As a group we are no worse than any other. We are not especially to blame for these problems. But we do have a very direct personal interest in maintaining our environment. We claim our enjoyment of it as one of the trophies of our sport.
Sure, we could just switch from the Waitaks’ to the Hunua’s (promising to be more careful). We could enter IRONMAN events with a sea swim. But look at the way things are going. Some sort of environmental issue is coming to all the trails near you sooner or later.
There’s a lot of good stuff happening in our community on this already. You get a Kauri planted when you do the Kauri Run. You help restore Motutapu Island by running The DUAL. We should all support these efforts. They make a positive contribution. They help secure our access to these places for years to come.
But maybe a useful thing to consider for 2018 is how we can all reach out further, do more. It could be anything - writing to your MP, donating to a conservation group, or picking up litter we see on the trail.
We must be ambassadors for the wild places we love. Otherwise we may find ourselves shut out of them.
