Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Sport

Boxing: Deirdre puts body on line for youth

Amy Wiggins
By Amy Wiggins
Education reporter, NZ Herald.·Bay of Plenty Times·
24 Apr, 2013 09:30 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Deirdre Lack is not one to shy away from a challenge but her latest one is proving tougher than she expected.

The Te Puke police senior sergeant nearly died in a car accident in December 2010 but was back at work less than five months later and was competing in triathlons last year.

Now she has volunteered to be one of the competitors in the Te Aranui Youth Trust DARE to Fight for Youth charity boxing event in July.

She will be representing her gym, Oceanblue Health and Fitness Club, in a bout against Global Fitness trainer Laura Ecclestone.

Ms Lack said she was more than happy to take a few hits to support Western Bay youth.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I'm very supportive of youth full stop," she said. "Youth don't get the opportunities that maybe we had and maybe they didn't have the family love that we had. I was given so many opportunities, it's nice to give back.

"They are our future. I'm putting my body on the line for them, I hope they realise that," she said, jokingly.

The competitors are already in their fourth week of training and are feeling the effects.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It makes triathlon training look pretty easy. After week one I thought, 'Everything hurts my hands, my abs, everything'," she said. "It's just another challenge. I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my life. You find muscles you never knew you had."

Despite being a police officer, getting used to taking punches had been one of the harder parts of the training, she said.

She has seen her share of scuffles in the line of duty, but it had not prepared her for boxing.

Event organiser and Te Aranui Youth Trust operations manager Wendy Nicholls said the event was to raise money for the trust which ran the DARE, Blue Light and Police Youth Development programmes in the Western Bay of Plenty.

Twenty well-known locals will take part in 10 fights held on July 12 at the ASB Arena. None of the competitors had any previous boxing experience, but were being put through their paces by TKO Boxing Academy trainer Hemi Miha two or three times a week in the lead-up.

The aim was to raise $60,000, enough to fund the trust's programmes for the year.

The event pits natural community rivals against each other, she said. Local engineering firms will be facing off, firefighters will pit themselves against police and Ford will be up against Holden. Two volunteers are still needed to fill the final fight.



Email wendy@tayt.org.nz for information and tickets.

Facing off


  • Waihi police Sergeant Aaron Fraser vs Tauranga firefighter Shayne Nelson

  • Tauranga police Constable Karl Blinkhorne vs Tauranga firefighter Luke Burgess

  • Global Fitness trainer Laura Ecclestone vs Oceanblue Health and Fitness Club member Deirdre Lack

  • Ford Ultimate Motor Group's Damian Palmer vs Ebbett Holden's Phil Comeskey

  • Robert Page Engineering's Paul Soverby vs Page and Macrae Engineering's Matt Barnett

  • Robert Page Engineering's Shane Hodge vs MSC Engineering's Alan Hammonds

  • Eves Realty's Fiona Henderson vs Cambridge Homes BOP's Brodie Cummins

  • BNZ Property Finance's Paul Wills vs Holland Beckett Lawyers' Michael Sharp

  • Placemakers' Damian Hermond vs Bethlehem Coachlines/Staples Rodway's Paul Jamieson
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses
Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

The new facility will include a new building plus 14 asphalt and nine cushioned courts.

14 Jul 07:00 PM
Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought
Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

14 Jul 05:17 AM
Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes
Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes

14 Jul 04:28 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP