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One of the first Taranaki IronMāori champions says it's a great way to get the community involved in healthy activity.
Stephen Bodger, the head of Māori at Alfriston College in South Auckland, won the 30-34 year old class of the half triathlon run at Waitara on Saturday.
He beat all but three others in the 600 metre pool swim, a 20 kilometre bike ride, and a 5 kilometre run.
He says the spin off from the hugely-successful Napier-based IronMāori was run with great spirit by the 400 competitors.
“The kaupapa is such a positive thing for our whānau to get into and it’s something you can do with your whānau. Everyone is competitive and everyone encourages you along the journey. Whether you’re on the bike or on the run, people are talking to you with all that tautoko, manaaki and awhitanga. It's all there,” he says.
Stephen Bodger says he couldn't get a place in the Hawkes Bay IronMāori, with all 2,500 places getting booked up in 7 minutes, but he had definitely caught the triathlon bug.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
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