Te Arawa marae relay returns, nearly 1000 runners join event

Some of the participants in the Rotorua Marathon. Photo / Rotorua Marathon

The marae-to-marae relay looks set to become a regular fixture for Te Arawa.

Te Papa Tākaro o Te Arawa CEO, Stephen Te Moni, said this month’s relay featured 32 marae teams with some 30 people of all ages in each one.

“That’s nearly 1000 runners or walkers who took part in the event,” Te Moni said.

The relay had been an annual event in the mid-1990s but was halted because of the high cost of traffic management, which cost up to $70,000.

Teaming up with this year’s Red Stag Rotorua Marathon set the stage for a new approach cost-wise, and how it might be run in the future.

The relay started at 6.30am with Te Arawa kōeke (elders) leading off a 600m “fun run” from Te Papaiōuru marae to Te Roro-o-te-rangi Marae at Ōhinemutu.

The formal start then began at 7am – an hour earlier than the marathon, although all runners and walkers followed the same 42km course and shared the finish line.

Relay teams tagged in new runners at each of the 11 marae en route, with sensors on the batons and flags recording the times of each team.

Te Moni wanted people of all ages to continue taking part, not just sportspeople or those fit enough to last the distance.

“At the end of the day, a person’s pride in their iwi is a good strategy to get them moving,” he said.

Made with the support of Te Māngai Pāho and New Zealand On Air

Originally published by Māori Television