It takes a village to pull off an event this size and scale of Aims Games. Stuart Whitaker profiles a code co-ordinator in her first year and a course setter with the event since it began.
Kahleia Josephson’s Zespri Aims Games journey has come full circle.
The former New Zealand water polo representative vividly remembers hitting the pool for the Mount Maunganui Intermediate team in 2008.
Two years later, her dad Karl took over as water polo code co-ordinator at Aims Games.
He’s been doing it ever since, alongside long-time collaborator Kellie Lowe.
The pair decided to step aside this year, although their first-choice replacement – Kahleia – needed a bit of convincing.
“Heck, no” was her first response – but with time and reflection, she came round to the idea.
“How they used to run it, and how much fun it was for the kids and seeing all these kids playing water polo and enjoying it, for me was like a no-brainer and a way to give back,” she said.
“We’ve been so lucky – Dad and Kellie are so on to it and organised that it’s really been a smooth and simple transition.”
It made it easier having her partner, World Aquatics official David Couper, alongside her. As did the memories she had of her own Aims experience.
“I absolutely loved Aims Games.
”It was so much fun and one of the most memorable things from school.”
She went on to represent New Zealand and was set to go to the world champs in 2014 before a concussion ended that dream.
She was, however, part of the Tauranga women’s team that finished third in this year’s New Zealand Water Polo Club League.
The code co-ordinator job begins with planning meetings in March, long before Aims Games week.
This week had been all about making sure everything went according to plan, with proud dad Karl watching on.
“Her and David have got the right background to take it over from Kellie and me. We didn’t want to just give it to anybody – we wanted the right people with the right passion,” he said.
A specially-adapted trailer, 7000m of tape, and 620 “pigtail” fencing posts.
That’s what it takes to set up the Aims Games 12km and 6km cross-country courses at Waipuna Park.
The man behind the set-up is Malcolm Taylor, who’s been mapping out the course since the games began in 2004.
He could probably name almost every winner over the past 21 years.
That’s because he’s got a full set of results and even knows who won Aims Games’ first-ever cross country - Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell.
“It’s probably the best spectator course in New Zealand. It’s a natural grandstand.”
Taylor will no doubt be jotting down the 2025 winners in his records.
He was particularly impressed with Paraparaumu Beach School’s Lucie Thomson, who finished a split second over 11 minutes – 25 seconds ahead of second place.
Lucie’s time was six seconds off the Year 8 girls’ record set by Tauranga Intermediate’s Renee Carey in 2019, Taylor said.
He anticipates that record will be broken if Lucie returns in 2026.
“She should take it if she just improves naturally.”
Taylor, who is a life member of Athletics Tauranga and was awarded a Queen’s Birthday Honour in 2007 for services to athletics, knows the Aims Games course like the back of his hand.
The 73-year-old reckons he can tell just by the weather whether record-breaking runs are likely.
“The critical thing about the course is the wind … If you’ve got a headwind when you return from the bottom field, you’re going to struggle to beat the record.”
Setting up the course is a six-person job using Taylor’s specially adapted trailer.
It takes two people to put out the pigtails, two to thread the tape and one to keep an eye on the reels.
Taylor drives.
Packing up is made easier by modified battery drills winding the tape back onto the reels.
Originally a 3km course, there have been some minor changes, mostly to cater for the increasing numbers of athletes taking part.
“It’s still quite a tough course,” Taylor said.
“The idea is to get them all around safely.”