Feature Story - On a mission

I love being organised. I'd much rather be in charge of a situation than sit around and wait for someone else to get their act together.
So I was hoping Iris Thomas would inspire me to think big.
This, after all, is a woman who decided to raise money for Christchurch's earthquake appeal and had 4000 Western Bay residents show up on The Strand with just a few days' notice.
This is the woman who has convinced thousands more to dress up in outrageous pink costumes and fake boobs every year and walk around our streets raising money for breast cancer services.
And this is the woman behind Tauranga's renowned 24-hour charity relay in Memorial Park - which people still talk about despite the decade-long event having wound up in 2002.
Iris Thomas makes things happen.
"If I say I'm going to do something then you might as well carve it in concrete because I will," she says. "I don't like letting people down and I have no patience for people who dither. Even if you do it wrong, just do it."
She shares her matter-of-fact determination with her partner of 22 years, Bruce Trask. The pair have staged hundreds of events in our community during this time.
"My mum always said I had ants in my pants and I can't stand being bored. I love to have a project to work on," says the 61 year old.
Walking into the couple's upstairs home office, I'm surprised they get much done at all.
Five people are crammed into this workspace - with desks, filing cabinets, computer screens, white boards and the family's grey fluffy cat all jostling for position.
I'm told the phone never stops ringing and I can only imagine the noise involved in the day-to-day running of the place.
Trask employs three staff to help him administer his Zero Waste and Paper 4 Trees environmental programmes. And in the lead-up to big sporting or community events, those same three staff volunteer to stuff piles of envelopes with registration forms for Thomas.
Tauranga's willingness to either volunteer or take part in events is one of the things Thomas loves most about living in the Bay.
"There's vibrancy here and people get up and do things - and that enthusiasm is contagious. Although people here never do anything until the last minute, bless them," she says with a chuckle.
"I used to be standing there half an hour before an event was due to start with only Bruce to talk to and I'd think 'oh dear, this probably wasn't a great idea after all'. And then, at the last minute, they'd come in waves."
That was certainly the case for Walk 4 Christchurch, held earlier this month, which raised $15,000 for the earthquake appeal.
Ten Tauranga members of New Zealand's Urban Search and Rescue Team led the way, followed by an enormous crowd of red and black-clad supporters.
"At 5.30pm, you could throw a blanket over people and then they seemed to come from the hills. People just converged on The Strand and they just kept coming."
Thomas says that night ranks "up there" with her favourite event memories.
"I'll never forget that night. I was just so proud to be part of our community."
So where does her desire to organise such large-scale events come from?
Like so many of us, Thomas' personality traits were formed during childhood.
She was the eldest of four children and the head of a large tribe of grandchildren in Gisborne.
I confess to holding an almost identical position in my family and we muse over whether that's why we naturally like to be in charge.
"We were not very wealthy so our lifestyle revolved around family. I had the job of looking after the children and I used to make up plays, put on concerts, dress them up and give them crazy hairstyles. I was always the bossy one," she says.
Thomas says her parents were community-minded and spent their whole lives volunteering for their local school PTA, board of trustees, hospital and RSA.
Her father, who worked in a grocery store, also spent his weekends ushering people to their seats in the Poverty Bay rugby ground.
"He used to bring me home programmes autographed by the All Blacks, the Springboks and the Lions. They'd be priceless today but I didn't keep them because they had no value to me at the time."
Thomas' mother sold Anzac poppies for 25 years and would cook up a storm whenever there was a crisis.
"It didn't matter what the problem was, you got a banana cake and a jar of home-made vegetable soup.
"They did it expecting nothing in return except personal satisfaction. And I don't expect anything in return except for my personal memory which is quite precious. That's what I need, not accolades. Just good memories."
Thanks to Thomas' hard work, many of us have cherished memories of taking part in Tauranga's 24-hour charity relays from 1993 until 2002.
Up to 3000 people would enter each year as teams or as individuals to run or bike throughout the day and night to raise money for a charity of their choice.
"Bruce and I are still asked if we would organise that again and the answer is always an emphatic 'no'. It took both of us to our physical and mental limits.
"We would run events, within events, within events. It just kept evolving each year into different directions. We would have Shortland St stars come, hold lip syncing competitions, fashion shows and sports challenges.
"Again, it was so successful because of our unique community here in Tauranga but I was so utterly relieved when it would finish. Then it would dawn on me that I'd have to start organising the next one."
Trask acknowledges his partner often takes on too much. And although she's willing to accept help, she prefers to be in control.
"She likes to direct things and tends to give people very specific tasks to do."
Trask was impressed by Thomas' drive, determination and sharp intellect when he first met her at a sports conference in Rotorua in 1989.
"Once she has an idea, she's pretty driven to make it come to fruition and does whatever is necessary. She can also hold her own in any sort of argument. What you see is what you get with Iris."
The pair have six sons between them from previous relationships and together they relish being close to their family and grandchildren.
"She's not easy to keep up with," he admits. "There's always something happening around the place."
Nowadays, Thomas' mainstay event is Tauranga's annual fun walk for breast cancer. Her mother and her grandmother survived breast cancer so when she was asked by the local Breast Cancer Support Service eight years ago to organise an event that would help raise awareness, she jumped at the chance.
"The most important thing I've learned is that you can survive. It's not a death sentence. This event touches the right chords because it's a lot of fun and it takes away that terrible fear that women have about breast cancer."
Organising any event is labour-intensive, but Thomas now has it down to a fine art.
She reels off the basic list of things which need to be ticked off - council and police consents, traffic management plans, advertising, sponsorship, publicity, entry forms. And she marvels at how willing local businesses are to help out.
"I don't even have to ask for help. People just ring now and say 'what can I do?"'
She confesses she "hates" attending meetings and much prefers to liaise with people by email so she doesn't waste precious time travelling to and fro.
A sense of humour and patience are critical in her line of work, and regular exercise helps keep her sane.
For most 60-something women, regular exercise might consist of a daily walk or stroll around the golf course. Not Thomas.
She still remembers crossing the finish line of her first triathlon in Gisborne in 1986. "There were 202 people entered and I came in 202nd but I got a standing ovation."
Thomas was hooked and has since competed in "hundreds" more triathlons and three ironmans - the last of which was last year.
Not bad for a grandmother of eight, I say.
"I never used to answer to the name grandma when the kids would call out. But now I don't care. It's rather nice really. It's lovely when I'm doing a triathlon to hear 'go Grandma'."
Even now, with no event in particular in mind to train for, Thomas gets up at 5.30am six days a week to run or bike around the Waikareao Estuary. It puts her in a good mood before walking into a classroom to teach primary school children how to ride their bikes safely around their neighbourhoods.
Yes, in addition to organising everything else, Thomas has a full-time job.
She was a founding member of Cycle Action Tauranga and receives council funding to run her award-winning Kids Can Ride safety programme in city schools.
Fellow Kids Can Ride instructor and former downhill world mountain bike champion, Vanessa Quin, describes her boss as "one of a kind" who is making a real difference in local kids' lives.
"It's a small part of a big picture but, in our area, it's having a really big effect."
Almost all 9 and 10-year-old children are put through a comprehensive safety programme which not only teaches them how to be better cyclists, but more conscientious drivers in the future.
"They have a better understanding of what it's like to be a cyclist on the road when a car or a bus comes past, so when they get their licence at age 15 they are more mindful of others on the road."
Quin says she appreciates Thomas' honesty and ability to motivate others. "She's a very passionate woman and it comes through in everything she does."
In a couple more years, Thomas will be old enough to claim her pension. But she certainly doesn't look like a pensioner.
She's just had her hair done at the hairdresser and waves of soft curls fall to her shoulders. Her make-up is perfectly applied (even though it's 9pm) and all that exercise has resulted in a tanned and toned body - and boundless energy.
Crikey. I gave up doing my hair and applying make-up a long time ago because I have neither the time nor the energy.
Clearly, I'm not as organised as I thought.