Karekare Beach Races

We were starting to set up
a little local fire station and we needed money. So, this was an idea
to start raising funds for the fire station and
for the little local school. I feel that the race day is actually fantastic for
the community because it brings different people from
different groups together, working together for a common cause. It's lovely.

It can be quite fluid, because there's been all the
storms in the last week. So, the placement of
where everything goes, how the day's actually
going to function in detail is subject to the weather. We've got a lot of gear
and a lot of hired support and all that kind of stuff. But, with the weather
we may have actually had to cancel today.

So, it's just a natural event
in a natural environment. You gotta work with it. It's a small community thing. I think small communities
all around New Zealand do things like this, and you
just have to get involved and you have to do things, you know? It's not like a big city
where you can sit back and think, "Oh, somebody else will do it." Out here, you just need to be one of the people doing it.

People have been helping
with the race for 20 years. So, they all know their own tasks. They like being involved,
and it's just amazing how the community comes together. You think you're gonna have a problem and you turn around and so and so turns up out of the bush, and says, "Oh, I've always done that job, "and I just do it like this." And you go, "Oh, that's cool." And, they do.

There's nothing like just
galloping full out on the beach. On a massive beast, you got to kinda hang on. There's a group of us who do all the organising. Kim and I probably arrange
the horse side of it, but because it's also
a big fundraising day, there are sort of groups
of people in the school and surf club that do a lot.

I know it's a scratching
if a horse drops out, but if you get an extra horse turn up, I don't know what that is. I ended up for quite a few years giving riding lessons to
a lot of the local kids. I told my dad, "Dad those
girls are going horse riding." "I really wanna horse ride." And, he said, "Okay, let's follow them." We met this lovely lady, she said, "Yes, definitely, let's get
your daughter on a horse." How many horses have you got down there at the moment? I've got four just about here. I haven't seen the fifth horse.

I can't see a fifth horse anywhere, over. Okay, I've got one coming down now in a pink shirt. My horses, when they get on the beach, they get very excited, because they know they've got
one job to do, and that's run. Surf Patrol from Kubi, do you copy, over? We're pretty close to being clear here.

Can you just give us a
signal when you start? Ready? Hang on, hang on, hang on. Come to line, number four. Ready. Go! You need people who know about horses.

You need people that have an
idea about health and safety. Mostly, you need people that
are willing to give their time. You could sit back and say,
"Well, the Council should be doing that," or, "Isn't
it nice that used to happen?" You could make those
comments or you could just get together with people
and make it happen..