New member
Carol Bellette
Former Christchurch City Council chief financial officer Carol Bellette – current finance director at AgResearch – will become an independent member of Waipā District Council’s Audit and Risk committee.
She is already deputy chair of Hamilton City Council’s Strategic Risk and Assurance committee, which is chaired by Bruce Robertson, who also chairs the Waipā statutory committee. She has held governance roles across a variety of industries from health and education to finance, infrastructure, Māori business and social services.
The role of the Audit and Risk committee, which meets four times a year, is to provide independent assurance and assistance to the council on its risk, control and compliance framework, as well as its external accountability.
Briggs misses out
31 August – 9pm
Devon Briggs has failed to qualify for the final in the men’s C1-3 1000m time trial at the Paralympics in Paris tonight.
The 20-year-old is still suffering the after effects of a training accident prior to the games starting and finished in seventh, one out from qualifying. He rode in the qualifier with Britain’s Jaco van Gass who finished in 1:05.84 to beat Briggs’ C3 world record, set earlier this year in the World Champs at Rio de Janeiro.
31 August – 5am
Cambridge paracyclist Anna Taylor has picked up a silver medal in the wmen’s C4 3000m individual pursuit final in Paris.
She sliced more than six seconds from her national record, recording 3:42.137.
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 30: Anna Taylor of Team New Zealand reacts after finishing second in the Women’s C4 3000m Individual Pursuit Final on day two of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on August 30, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for PNZ)
“I am overjoyed. It is unreal, like living a dream. The gameplan was to give everything I have to get in the gold medal race, and it was a huge PB. I am glad it worked out that way.
“I am just grateful that all the work I have put in has paid off because that is not always the case. I am glad everything held together. My family being here means everything to me. They’ve supported me regardless, been my champion through some tough and dark times.
“It is very hard to pick yourself back up after you get knocked down many times, although sometimes that is what is life is all about. Just being part of the New Zealand Paralympic Team, I am part of something bigger than any hardware I have got today.”
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 30: Devon Briggs of New Zealand competes in the C3 3000m individual pursuit on day two of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on August 30, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for PNZ)
Paralympic debutant Devon Briggs defied a fractured sacrum and dislocated coccyx to battle through the pain barrier and only narrowly miss a place in the bronze medal race of the Men’s C3 3000m Individual Pursuit.
The 20-year-old Cambridge-based athlete who sustained the injuries in a crash in his final Pre-Games training session in Switzerland recording 3:27.017 to placing fifth overall, just 0.077 shy of fourth and a place in the bronze medal race.
Briggs, who has three further events on the programme at Paris 2024, said: “My back didn’t feel right but I just tried to push through the pain. I got comfortable on pace, but the power just wasn’t there in the legs. It is a little bit tough to miss out on the bronze medal ride but with two world records set in qualification, racing is next level here.
“The accident happened at a bad time, but the team around me have been amazing in trying to get me here, they never gave up on me getting to the start line.”
Yesterday Nicole Murray smashed the New Zealand record in qualification before placing fifth in the final of the Women’s C4-5 500m Time Trial.
Murray, 31, went one better than her finishing position in this event at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, and given the quality of the display, it bodes well for her remaining three events at Paris 2024.
“I am blown away I got to the final,” she says. “It was a stacked field, and the time trial is definitely not my best race, so just to make the final is incredible.”
PARIS, FRANCE – AUGUST 29: Nicole Murray of Team New Zealand
competes during the Women’s C4-5 500m Time Trial – Qualifying on day one of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome on August 29, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
Meanwhile Ben Westenberg had to pull out of the Paralympics before they got underway, a victim of the same training accident that put Briggs into hospital.
Since arriving in the village, Ben has been monitored under concussion protocols, with support from NZ Paralympic Team medical staff.
While Ben has been recovering well, further tests this week have shown that he has not progressed to the stage where he would be able to compete safely.
See: He who laughs last
Will Palmer/SWpix.com – 03/08/2023 – Track & Para Track Cycling – 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships – Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, Glasgow, Scotland – Men C4 Omnium, 200m Time Trial – Benjamin Westenberg of New Zealand
August 28
Piarere planning
Motorists will start using the new Piarere roundabout – the intersection of highways one and 29 – in less than four weeks. But getting there will involve closing SH1 south from Piarere for a day on September 24, when vehicles will detour along highways 29 and 27 – adding about 12 minutes to their journey. The detour will not apply to emergency vehicles or residents and school buses.
See: Temporary road layout map
See: SH1-SH29 intersection detours
Cambridge link
Some of the 70 entities in the Du Val Group – put into interim receivership and statutory management earlier this month – had their registered company address at Herbert Morton accountants in Cambridge and Tamahere lawyer Owen Francis Tyrrell Culliney as a director. More than $250 million is owed to creditors of Du Val Group founders Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke.
Board agree
Cambridge Community Board has supported Waipā District Council’s proposal to cut the number of elected representatives by three, from 10 to seven.
New blood
Destination Cambridge general manager Ruth Crampton at Tuesday’s annual meeting. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Destination Cambridge have new board members following the resignation of Caron Steffert several weeks ago and the retirement of Jatin Bhai and Dick Breukink at Tuesday’s annual meeting. They are Marie Rechner (Mystery Creek), Richard Levings (Alphas St Cafe and Bar) and Bill Heslop (Accommodation consultant). Angelique van der Merwe, Belinda Gelston and chair Lucy Young will continue on the board.
Hinuera wins
Deb White (Skip) Kevin Smith, Bruce Milne, Paul Casey (Jun)
A Hinuera four won the annual Bupa St Kilda two-day Classic Lawn Bowls Tournament last weekend.
A total of 104 competitors graced the two greens at the Cambridge Bowling Club on Thornton Road.
Results – Deb White (Skip) Kevin Smith, Bruce Milne, Paul Casey (Hinuera) 1, Jenny Stockford (Skip) Teri Blackbourn, Roy Shepherd, Roslyn Brown (Composite) 2, Denise Te Momo (Skip) Warwick Flintoff, Lynda Bennett, Chris Osment (Composite) 3, Alan Sutton (Skip) Andrew Leota, Alana Nicholas, Megan Pohe-Chubb (Putaruru) 4.
Jenny Stockford (Skip) Teri Blackbourn, Roy Shepherd, Roslyn Brown
Liquor feedback
Consultation on the Local Alcohol Policy, Alcohol Control Bylaw and Alcohol Fees Bylaw has opened. The policy sets out where, when and how alcohol can be sold, supplied, or consumed concerning these sites. Waipā council is also introducing a bylaw to set the alcohol licence fees for applications and renewals. Feedback closes September 12.
In the finals
Dallas Prince Wholly Cow
Dallas Prince, from the Cambridge based Wholly Cow butchery, was a young butcher of the year finalist at the industry’s annual awards last week. Brad Gillespie from Te Awamutu’s Pak’n Save took part in the butcher teams challenge event as part of the Cut Above Butchers who won the best lamb product competition.
Bollards
The bollard at the front is damaged following the crash.
A Cambridge woman is questioning whether newly installed bollards adjacent to the cycleway in Bryce Street and at the entrance to the Trinity St Paul’s Union Parish are high enough after she crashed into one of them last week. The wooden bollards are under 50cm high and she clipped one on her way out – while looking for cyclists – sustaining significant damage to her car. The council says there was just a grass berm and some trees there before and the height was sufficient.
Strings on tour
NZSQ Soundscapes. Photo: Latitude Creative
The New Zealand String Quartet will bring its Soundscapes tour to Cambridge Town Hall next month as part of a move to take its music beyond the usual concert hall setting.
Seniors meet
Grey Power Te Awamutu has organised meeting with two district councillors to discuss the needs of seniors in the Waipā district. President Michael Cullen will host Lou Brown and Roger Gordon at the September 5 meeting at the Te Awamutu Sports Club.
Hospice Waikato opens new shop
Tom Roa, left, with Hospice Waikato acting chief executive Susan Hassall, and regional retail manager Terese Bidlake at the opening of the new store.
Kaumatua Tom Roa blessed the opening of Hospice Waikato’s new retail store in Te Awamutu so that those at the end of their life could also be blessed.
Roa, an ahonuku/associate professor in the University of Waikato’s Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies – and columnist in The News – was joined at Monday’s opening by Hospice Waikato’s acting chief executive Susan Hassall, regional retail manager Tersa Bidlake, and invited guests at the old ITM building on the corner of Te Rahu and Cambridge roads in Te Awamutu.
Elm help
Arborist planner James Richardson with Elm trees in Te Awamutu.
Elm trees in in Waipā will be injected with a vaccine designed to improve their resistance to Dutch Elm Disease, which was found in three trees in February. The vaccine, to be imported from Holland by Waipā District Council, will come at a cost of $25,000. DutchTrig has been found to be effective when used annually.
Tīrau wins
Tirau Community Board secured the Enhancing Communities Award at the Local Government New Zealand Community Boards awards last week for transforming a largely unused reserve into a beautiful community asset, complete with suspension bridge, pump track, BBQ area, restrooms, and on- and off-lead dog areas.
Water plan unveiled
Waipā, Taupō and Ōtorohanga district councils have acknowledged a report released by the Waikato Mayoral Forum which says the region would be better off if local councils worked together to deliver water services.
Waipā councillors this week directed staff to investigate two options – one which would see new chief executive Steph O’Sullivan negotiate a non-binding agreement for Waipā to join a regional waters organisation and a second, with an assessment due late next month, to determine if council determine can go it alone. The independent report from the forum said a regional waters entity could save $338 million across the region with most savings driven by improved capital works and planning.
In place
One of the turnaround bays now in place.
A programme of safety improvements involving flexible median barriers and turnaround bays, is now complete on State Highway 1 between Cambridge and Piarere.
The project began in 2020, with the aim of reducing deaths and serious injuries on this notoriously dangerous stretch of road.
Stage 1 was completed in December 2020, with 2.5km of flexible median safety barrier installed from south of Fergusson Gully Road.
Stage 2 followed, with the installation of 5.2km of flexible median barrier from an unnamed reserve to 1km north of Maungatautari Road towards Piarere. The remaining 2.5km of flexible median barrier from Keeley’s Reserve through to just past Kentucky Road was completed in June this year.
This month marks the conclusion of Stage 3, which includes 7.9km of flexible median barrier in sections from the end of the Waikato Expressway through to Fergusson Gully Road. This stage also included the construction of five turnaround bays.
New Piarere Roundabout
