New Zealand: Masters of Sport

 

 

Get Your Free Web Ring Webring by Bravenet.com

 

 

Thank you for joining us for the inaugural IMPACT online exhibition, a new project exploring the blog medium as a venue for photographic work.

By clicking on the links below the IMPACT logo, you can move through the exhibition, viewing galleries of images, all related to the idea of “Outside Looking In.” Each “gallery” will include a series of images a photographer has uploaded to their blog along with this same IMPACT logo. At any time you can click there to be taken to back to this post.

By allowing viewers to move easily between different photographer’s online galleries, we hope to gain exposure for their work while providing a multifaceted visual study of the chosen topic.

We also wanted to remind viewers of the important role photographers play around the world, so we asked participants to share images from a project where they had an impact or were impacted themselves and to include a link to an organization that they believe is having a positive impact on the world. Please help us increase this project’s IMPACT by sharing it with your community.

New Zealand: Masters of Sport

The New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary captures the spirit of the individual Kiwi when he said,  "In some ways I believe I epitomize the average New Zealander: I have modest abilities, I combine these with a good deal of determination, and I rather like to succeed." 

 

New Zealand. Spectacular landscape, sturdy people. Humble. While many people have a perception about what's supposed to happen as you grow older I ran into a lot of Kiwis who quietly rejected the popular notions of life beyond 60.

 

Jan Nicols started kayaking when she was in her 50's. She's known as fearless in the kayak as well as on the mountain bike. She does adventure races and has  been an athlete all her life. She works as a nurses aid and is a grandmother of several.

 

Dick Smith, 82, has been open water swimming for over 50 years. Most of the people coming out of the water at the same time as him were at least half his age, some one third his age. He used to be a school teacher.

 

Mike Ward has done every Coast to Coast, all 28 of them, all 243 km of running, kayaking and cycling. He was a member of parliament and has never had a driver's license. His first C2C was when he was in his 40's.

 

Dave Brash is still pulling down hard. He's 61, and climbs hard 5.10 and 5.11. He's climbed all over the world and his favorite area is the Darren's in New Zealand.

 

The Dunedin over-60's tramping club. They regretted that I wasn't able to make their hike 2 days earlier, which had over 50 people. As it was, I joined them for their 7 hour hike, and since it had been raining, several went down hard in the mud. No broken hips, just smiles and a bit of chuckle and appreciation for the beauty that they walked amongst. The oldest in the group was 83.

 

My time in New Zealand was highlighted by meeting these people. Not professional athletes, just, as they would say, "average blokes". But they undersell themselves, because their youthful attitude, vision, focus and quiet commitment, was absolutely inspiring.  

 

 

 

 

 

  
  

 

 

 

 

Comments

[mk]

Love this story! This is exactly how I wish/intend to grow old.

Also, Bill... thanks for being such an inspirational photographer. I've quietly learned much from you.

Cheers amigo.

[Eve Tallman]

Thanks, Bill! Nice new pics of friendly folks. I like the hiking club group shot, and the guy cragging.

[air conditioning maintenance]

Awesome picture's, makes you feel alive. great post.