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Home / Gisborne Herald / Lifestyle

Paddling her own waka

Gisborne Herald
18 Mar, 2023 01:33 AMQuick Read

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Among her many talents, Kathy is a medal-winning waka ama paddler, and is currently racing in the 2016 Te Wananga o Aotearoa Waka Ama Sprint Nationals at Lake Karapiro. Picture by Paul Rickard.
Among her many talents, Kathy is a medal-winning waka ama paddler, and is currently racing in the 2016 Te Wananga o Aotearoa Waka Ama Sprint Nationals at Lake Karapiro. Picture by Paul Rickard.

Among her many talents, Kathy is a medal-winning waka ama paddler, and is currently racing in the 2016 Te Wananga o Aotearoa Waka Ama Sprint Nationals at Lake Karapiro. Picture by Paul Rickard.

Kathy Sheldrake was in her early 40s when her heart was first touched by the people of Nepal.

“It was 1991 and I was trekking in Nepal, my first visit to a Third World country. I was quite overwhelmed by the plight of the people there, especially the women,” says the former district councillor and elected member of Hauora Tairawhiti.

When Kathy got home, she did more than look at her photos and feel sad for the people she had met while on the trek.

Fundraising for NepalA powerhouse of energy with the ability to make things happen, Kathy contacted Sir Edmund Hillary and invited him to speak at a Business and Professional Women’s Club (BPW) fundraising dinner in Gisborne to raise money for women’s literacy in Nepal.

Sir Edmund enthusiastically agreed and the dinner raised $3000, funds that were channelled through BPW to the sister club in Kathmandu.

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A member and past president of BPW, Kathy went back to Nepal in 1997 to see where the money was being spent. She stayed with the Nepal BPW president in Kathmandu and was able to report back that the funds had reached the people most in need.

“There were no middlemen taking a cut.”

Thanks to Kathy’s efforts, BPW are now involved in a project with the 3 Angels aid agency to raise funds for blankets for people in remote, impoverished communities in Nepal.

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“These people were incredibly needy even before the devastating earthquake in April 2015 but now their situation is even more dire. Our contacts in Nepal say they need 15,000 blankets especially in the winter months when conditions are very harsh. We’ve had reports of babies freezing to death.

“The blankets go to communities like Badi where the people are so poor the mothers sell their daughters for prostitution; the remote Kulmun village high on a hill where the people are uneducated and very needy; and a riverside slum whose residents have escaped landslides, flooding and the Maoist conflict.

“We also supply the Kohalpur slum village which is badly affected by flooding and landslides. Almost 98 percent of the people there are from the ‘Untouchable’ caste.

“The Chaudhary community have to work for nothing to pay off the debts of their parents and grandparents so they are effectively slaves. Every winter 10 to 15 die from the extreme cold there.

“Then there are the prisoners in Salyan and Dhangadi jails. In Nepali culture, women who go to jail are abandoned by their families. We can’t imagine what their lives must be like.

“The quake damaged all the dwellings in the village of Chepang whose inhabitants were already the poorest of the poor and have no roads for aid to reach them.”

Kathy is passionate about the blanket project and the work of BPW.

“The blankets are sourced in China for about $NZ6 each and really do make a difference to these people’s lives.

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“BPW raised over $NZ500 at the end of last year so that’s over 80 blankets we have been able to fund for these desperately needy folk.

“It’s wonderful what BPW does internationally.”

Current local BPW president Sherryll Markie-Brookes has also been to Nepal and her 90-year-old mother knitted 14 sets of hats and jumpers for babies there.

Strong desire to help those in needMotivated by a strong desire to help those in need and find ways to make a difference, Kathy and her husband Terry sponsored a child in India from the early 1990s.

“Mary is grown up now and married to a pastor with children of her own. It’s so rewarding to see how happy and independent she is.”

Kathy is modest about her charitable deeds saying the work her sister does is more worthy of praise.

“My sister Helen Eager was a founder of Asian Aid back in the 1970s so I’ve had a personal connection to charity work all my adult life. What Helen does really amazes me. She’s on the ground in Nepal and has had some hair-raising experiences like being a pillion passenger on motorbikes careering up and down mountain tracks with no idea of where she is going.

“I could never do what she does, but I can fundraise — so that’s what I do,” says Kathy.

This is just one facet of a busy life involving extensive community service over 40 years and a multitude of sporting and business pursuits.

Raised on a hill country farm at Matawai, Kathy says she’s a highly competitive person who “doesn’t like to be beaten”.

She played basketball for over 30 years representing Gisborne at national level for 25 years, played netball for 25 years, umpired at provincial level . . . and has run five marathons.

Extensive community serviceKathy was the first female president of the Gisborne West Rotary Club, serving two terms as president over a decade.

She worked in victim support for 10 years and qualified as a support person for those impacted by homicide after attending special training at Porirua Police College.

She served three terms as a district councillor from 2001 to 2010 and became a qualified Resource Management Act hearings commissioner.

“Looking back, my time on the council was highly stimulating if somewhat frustrating at times,” says Kathy.

She is now in her second term as an elected member of Hauora Tairawhiti (Tairawhiti District Health).

Kathy was employed by Sport Gisborne as Green Prescription area manager, running Active Practice and Active Workplace programmes.

She was a Meals-on-Wheels driver for 12 years, and is currently a Justice of the Peace and marriage celebrant.

Triathlon has played a big part in her lifeTriathlon has featured prominently in the lives of both Kathy and her husband Terry.

Kathy was part of the inaugural local triathlon club in 1984, participated in club events for triathlon and multi-sport and was a VIP services manager for the 2012 World Triathlon Championships in Auckland.

She travelled to the Solomon Islands and Fiji in 2006 to explore opportunities to increase triathlon participation there, subsequently organising two children’s triathlons and training courses in Fiji.

In 1999, Kathy and Terry established TMS (triathlon and multi-sport) Sport Promotions Ltd, an event management company. As co-director, she assisted Terry with running Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlons throughout New Zealand and Fiji for nine years and also ran events such as the January 1 Findlay Fire in the Sky for six years.

They owned and managed the longest one-day cycle challenge in New Zealand, the 204km GWAloop Cycle Challenge, for six years.

Next on the TMS agenda is the Oceania Tri champs in Gisborne in March, 2016.

Kathy served two terms on the International Triathlon Union women’s committee and now assists Terry who is on the International Triathlon Union world board.

Since triathlon was admitted to the Olympics in 2000, Kathy and Terry have attended three Games and are looking forward to their fourth in Rio de Janeiro in August.

A medal-winning waka ama paddler, Kathy competed in a number of masters’ events with the Gizzy Gold team in 2015 and is this weekend racing in the 2016 Te Wananga o Aotearoa Waka Ama Sprint Nationals at Lake Karapiro.

“I love the exhilaration of waka ama. Being out on the river early in the morning with the tide coming in and the river full of boats is so beautiful. It makes me high on life.”

She’s now focused on the world waka ama champs on the Sunshine Coast in May. But Kathy’s first sporting love is cycling.

Cycling her first sporting love“You can go much further and see far more on a bike than on foot,” she says. “And New Zealand has so many fabulous cycle trails these days, like the 23 Great Rides. I get a real buzz out of cycling . . . others must too because it’s the fastest growing sport in New Zealand.”

Kathy has ridden in the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge twice, did a cycle tour of France in 2007, was appointed to the New Zealand Cycle Trails (NZCT) Establishment Advisory Board in 2012 and became a trustee of NZCT Inc in 2014.

As a district councillor, Kathy set up a trust to focus on the Wainui cycle and walkway and was thrilled to see it open a year ago. She’s now chairwoman of the Motu Trails Charitable Trust and a trustee of the Gisborne Cycle and Walkway Trust.

“I love the Motu Trails and have ridden the Pakihi Track five times. I enjoy the peace and quiet of our native forest, the bird song, the beauty, the solitude. We are so lucky in New Zealand to have such easy access to special places like this,” she says.

“I’m looking forward immensely to my role as chairwoman of the Motu Trails Charitable Trust. I’ve just chaired my first meeting with a wonderful group of trustees. It’s so exciting. Along with my fundraising work for Nepal, that’s a very high priority for me.”

Asked how she manages such a busy schedule, Kathy replies: “You always have time to do what you really want to do. I’m up and about early and I even find time to garden and read.”

Kathy’s aim is to be totally worn out when she leaves this world.

“I want to have nothing left on my to-do list, and no spare energy saved up for ‘later’.”

She thinks she’s on target so far.

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