Relaxing Labour weekend?

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 509, 26 October 1993, Page 1

Relaxing Labour weekend?

It was all-go this Labour Weekend with all sorts hapenning. The activities pictured here were just some o# them. More later.

Ray Spry still smiling after the muddy run down the Whakapapaiti Hut track from Whakapapa Skifields on Saturday morning in the first leg of the Lifespan Mountains to Sea multi-sport event, which saw hundreds of competitors, supporters and officials make their way from Ruapehu to Wanganui via Taumarunui and the Whanganui River over the three days on Labour Weekend.

Conductor Robert Sund leads the massed choir for the Ruapehu mountain sing on Sunday at Turoa base area. Mr Sund, Sweden's choir leader of the year, was the guest conductor for the Sing Aotearoa Festival hosted by Ohakune on the weekend.

Motorcycles with side cars are the life-blood of the 40 enthusiasts that converged on Raetihi over the weekend for the New Zealand Side Car Register Rally. Around 40 side car enthusiasts (adults and children) took part in the first ever Labour Weekend rally to Raetihi , organised by local Ulysses Club members lan and Ngaire Stewart. The group took in the sights of the Waimarino, including a leisurely jaunt to the Ruatiti domain, a bus trip to Turoa Skifields and a guided tour of Horopito Vintage Car Museum. Those that took part in the family-oriented rally were all members of the Side Car Register of New Zealand and came as far afield as Gisborne and Havelock North for the event. The Stewarts are hoping to emulate the weekend' s success next February, with a motorcycle c ontingent at the Waimarino Show.

Sing Aotearoa Choral Festival participants are welcomed onto the Maungarongo Marae on Saturday. Choral singers from as far afield as Kerikeri and Dunedin converged on the Waimarino during Labour Weekend for the 1993 'Sing Aotearoa' Festival. Singers and their supporters paraded from the Carrot on Saturday morning to the Marae, where the festival was declared officially open. The group reformed at the top of the mountain road on Sunday for an open air concert, and again at the Ruapehu College Hall for the premiere performance of He Iwi kotahi Tatou (We are One People) by Jenny McLeod.

Braving the blizzard and smiling through the snow is the New Zealand Disabled Ski Team and the crew of ablebodied Turoa staff who took them on in a full-on dual slalom on Sunday. The staff tried to match their skills against the national racers, while also matching disability, skiing blindfolded, with arms tucked inside jackets or skiing on one ski, depending on their opposite number.