13/12/2017
As you will know from our many updates, The Hillary 2018 event has been at threat of being cancelled due to Kauri dieback disease. Kauri dieback disease is a fungus that eats into the roots of the tree, stripping the canopy and causing bark to waste away. Nearly all infected kauri die – there is currently no known resistance or treatment to the disease. The disease is easily spread through soil movements, for example, when soil is carried from one place to another on dirty footwear, animals, equipment and vehicles. A report released in August 2017 reported that the spread of kauri dieback has more than doubled in the past five years, with 19 percent of kauri now infected.
On 2nd December, a rāhui was placed over the Waitākere Ranges by iwi Te Kawerau a Maki. This cultural restriction by the mana whenua of the area urges people to stay away from the ranges to allow the forest to heal. The key message from iwi executive manager Edward Ashby is ‘our kauri forest is dying and could be lost within a generation unless we change our behaviours and do something now to save it. The core purpose of the rāhui is the conservation of kauri and the forest for the future. We each have a choice: do we want a forest for future generations, or not? We can save this forest together by acting individually to keep out of the forest, spreading the word about kauri dieback, volunteering in pest and w**d management organisations, and asking the Council and Government to support a program of research and remedial work to make the track network safe for kauri.’
We were waiting for a meeting of the Environment and Community Committee of Auckland Council where they would decide the Council position with respect to the rāhui. Following more than five hours of public and local board input and debate, the committee said they support the principles of the rāhui but would not go as far as closing the whole park due to implementation issues. Instead they chose to close a number of tracks, seek further funding through the council’s 10-year Budget and implement a further programme of high and medium risk track closures. Staff and rangers have been working hard to identify more tracks for closure and now a further 17 additional tracks identified since the committee meeting on 5 December are now closed.
So that left us with a big conflict. The council says the trails The Hillary event uses are open and have indicated they could still issue a consent, but the iwi have a rāhui in place over all of the Waitakere Ranges.
With further discussion with iwi in the last couple of days, it has become clear that the rāhui is unlikely to be raised anytime soon and certainly not in time for the event. So we have had to make the hard call to cancel The Hillary 2018 in support of the rāhui.
This decision has not been taken lightly and has issues for many, but the ethos of our company and in fact one of the aims of the Hillary Trail Run Charitable Trust, is promoting the care and stewardship of the Waitakere Ranges. We feel we need to respect the iwi’s request and support the rāhui until such a time that Council invests money into boosting the existing programme of education, hygiene station upgrades, track improvements and appropriate and scientific surveillance. We sincerely hope that this happens and the trails will start to be opened with the iwi’s blessing and we can enjoy the trails again knowing we’re not spreading this disease. The Hillary 2019 is looking promising!!
If we went against the rāhui we would be adding to the confusion that exists at present in that iwi, environmentalists, scientists are saying we should stay out until recommended track and footwash upgrades are complete but the Auckland Council have left some tracks open for public to use. Our cancellation of the event is driven by the ideal that all of us should abide by the rāhui.
Te Iwi o Te Kawerau a Maki are the mana whenua of the Waitakere Ranges. Mana whenua have a special cultural and spiritual relationship with the environment. This includes their relationship with their waahi tapu (sacred sites), taonga (treasures), water, and ancestral lands. These relationships are a matter of national importance under the Resource Management Act 1991. Kauri are considered taonga to the mana whenua and the Waitakere Ranges are their ancestral lands. It is for this deep national and local importance that we wish to respect the rāhui that the iwi have placed on the area.
In my discussion with iwi I have clarified some trails within the original map of the rāhui that can in fact still be used with the iwi’s blessing. This will come as relief for those of us that use the Waitakere Ranges as a training ground but were still keen to observe the rāhui. I have included the details of this below for the locals who use the trails regularly.
So now what? With regards those of you that have already entered and/or are stuck with travel and accommodation you can’t cancel? We are quickly organising an alternative event! Likely distances will be 17km, 42km and 70km on terrain that is not as steep or technical as The Hillary, but has amazing views and a variety of terrain. Your entry will automatically transfer to this new event as follows 16km converts to 17km, 34 to 42km and 80 to 70km. We promise we’ll put on an event you’ll remember (in normal Lactic Turkey Events style!!) and make it worth your support of this event.
We’d love for you to try this new venue/event for which you’ll still receive a great challenging run/walk and in an area of Auckland you’ll not likely have been to before. But for those that no longer want to be involved we will offer a partial refund.
Obviously, we have incurred costs to date with this event, but we have held off ordering merchandise etc until we knew what was happening. Per our refund policy on the entry page; “If the event is cancelled due to extreme weather or other factors outside of the event directors control, 50% of entry fees will be refunded. The remainder will go towards covering some administration costs and a portion of fixed event costs.”
We consider this a factor outside of our control so will offer a 50% refund on entries paid and 100% refund on any bus tickets/merchandise ordered.
If you are choose to not run in our alternative event then please email your request for a refund to [email protected] and if you used a bank account to pay your entry, please include this in your request. If you paid by credit card, refunds will be paid straight back onto your card. Sorry, this refund process may take some time due to the upcoming holiday period and the admin involved.
This is wrenching news for us as we've put so much into first getting permission to start the event and then each year to keep it running. We're disappointing we can't share this area with you in 2018 but will keep pushing and doing what we can to bring it back in 2019!
Shaun and The Hillary team!
CLARIFICATION OF THE RAHUI AREA
Te Kawerau a Maki executive manager Edward Ashby clarify by stating;
• The rāhui covers areas of kauri ecology only within the Waitakere Ranges Heritage Area (WRHA)
• Best way to think about it is from a ecologists point of view in terms of a catchment – the tikanga was to the kauri and the forest. It is safest to assume anywhere within the forest itself is covered by the rāhui, and only those places where kauri are not in the catchment are excluded.
• Tracks that pass by kauri trees, or are within an ecological catchment that includes kauri trees, are within the rāhui. This means even those nature trails around Arataki that have kauri or are near kauri are within the rāhui and Kitekite Falls is definitely within the rahui.
• Gravel roads etc are not included. If there are no kauri or forest anywhere nearby, then chances are that you are not within the rāhui – so dam roads etc are not part of the rāhui
• If you are running along a coastal track next to the beach with nothing but Manuka scrub or grassland, then chances are that you are not within the rāhui.
• From a technical level, even open grassed paddocks within the Regional Parkland (for example the golf course at Cascades) are not within the rāhui - just don’t go after the golf ball if you hit it into the forest 😊
• Te Henga walkway is primarily not anywhere near kauri, so it is not included within the rāhui.
• Goldies Bush is not within the WRHA which is an arbitrary line used to define the approximate area we are talking about when we talk about the rāhui. However, it has kauri, is obviously part of Waitakere, so from a tikanga perspective the rāhui applies to Goldies Bush.
