“What he’s done over the last two days, there’s plenty of adults that wouldn’t have done it.”
She said Jack had been reluctant to stop walking despite the fatigue and pain he was experiencing.
The second day of the hikoi saw him walk 40km over 12 hours on already blistered feet.
“He got down to a shuffle, but he said, ‘I have to do this’. I said ‘you’ve done enough my boy’. He said, ‘no, I haven’t done enough until I finish’.”
Karetai said Jack was worried that he had let people down by not getting to Arataki in time.
“But that’s him. He’s just got such a strong sense of honour and duty. He doesn’t like letting people down.
“I look at this boy and I see the man that he’s going to become. He’s such a really wonderful person.
“He’s got a good, strong heart for things that really matter.”
Jack planned to leave Arataki Community Centre in Mount Maunganui tomorrow morning.
He invites like-minded people to join him in his ride.
Friends, family and well-wishers will meet at 9.30am for a send-off and sausage sizzle.
The first part of the ride, along the Tauranga Eastern Link Cycleway is suitable for families.
The second leg, from the Te Puke Golf Club to Whakatāne, will be for road-confident riders only.
