Latest news with #WānakaPrimarySchool
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
More recognition for New Zealand's queen of cycling
The most successful cyclist in New Zealand Olympic history has dedicated her latest honour to the people who supported her decorated career - and it isn't over yet. Four-time Olympic medallist and double Olympic champion Ellesse Andrews has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in this year's King's Birthday Honours for services to cycling. The 25-year-old sprinter said front of mind was her parents who were there when it all began. Her father, Jon Andrews, was no stranger to the cutthroat world of elite cycling when he introduced his young daughter to the sport. He won a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in the time trial, and knew the speeds she would be reaching when she raced the steeply banked oval tracks of the velodrome. He also wore the silver fern at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. While mother Angela Mote-Andrews knew about competing on two wheels as an elite mountainbiker. Currently competing in Japan with the New Zealand team, Andrews said the honour was a bolt from the blue. "It means a lot to me but also really signifies the support that I have to had to get to this point," Andrews said. "Absolutely my family, my friends and everyone has been so supportive and I guess beyond that the community that we have within cycling in New Zealand." Andrews grew up in Luggate and attended Wānaka Primary School and Mount Aspiring College until her final two years when she attended St Peter's in Cambridge. She set new standards in the sport after winning gold medals in the Women's Sprint and Keirin along with a silver medal in the Women's Team Sprint at last year's Paris Olympic Games. She became the first New Zealand cyclist to win two gold medals and three medals in total at a single Olympics. Together with the silver medal she attained in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, taking her Olympic medal haul to four medals. The previous best was two medals won by cyclist Hayden Roulston at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Alongside her Olympic medals, Andrews won the the Keirin title at the World Track Cycling Championships in Glasgow in 2023. She also won three gold medals at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. While the medals on the track have come thick and fast, she didn't have an honour like this on her radar. "I didn't really expect it at all so it was really a massive surprise to read the email and then to see it come out today - yes, it's a huge privilege." "I'm really proud to have been a part of it and I'm really proud to go out there on the world stage and really to continue to put New Zealand on the map because we have so many talented riders."
Otago Daily Times
24-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Artist inspired by natural environments
Chrissy Wickes has a love for New Zealand's most natural environments. The former Aucklander and city girl started with Waiheke Island, moved to Haast on the West Coast, Te Anau, and had lived as far as Campbell Island researching the southern royal albatross. After years of following her love for natives and nature, Wickes landed in Wānaka 12 years ago and has not left. She says she has found a home because inspiration is in abundance. "We used to come and play here, this was the play place. When my partner's job came up and we were going to be in Wānaka I was like, 'are you for real?'. We felt like we had won Lotto." A trained field researcher, Wickes is passionate about keeping our environment, and those who live in it, safe. Research she carried out in separate stints on Campbell Island, 16 years apart, shows that the southern royal albatross' population is decreasing. "The numbers are going down. That is conclusive from the last two years." Numbers show the albatross population has decreased by 28% since the early 2000s, the most obvious reason being fisheries both in the Pacific and around the world, as the albatross is a travelling bird. "These birds travel the world, so unfortunately they are going outside New Zealand waters, but ... we are all involved in this." Albatrosses get caught in nets and killed on fishing hooks. Because they are scavengers and surface feeders, they are often around boats and fish nets. Wickes has brought her passion back to the mainland, where she has hosted several talks about the endangered bird, and has also used it as inspiration for her other great love — art. "When I go to these places, I feel compelled to share these stories. Unless people know about these places, it is hard for them to care." "I did a whole lot of art out of that. I did sketches and when I came back I just pumped out art." Her artwork is always influenced by her environment. While living on Waiheke Island, she was involved with the local marae and took up flax work. "I love that slow process of working with flax. It is very time-consuming but quite therapeutic. "I like slow art. It is why I walk rather than drive ... A place like Wānaka is quite busy, there is a lovely energy here, but it is very much go go, go, go. "So I like to slow things down, which is very much what art is for me." Wānaka has improved her drive to create, as well as her desire to build a community with others also tuning their skills. "My art started flourishing when I moved here, as this is such an open place and very accepting. I was taken by the landscape. I just love those bare brown hills, the colours of the hills contrasting with the sky, which contrast with the lakes. It really mesmerised me." Since moving here 12 years ago, she has made an impression on the town too, with her brush. Wānaka Primary School and Dinosaur Park are covered in Wickes' landscapes. She has been hosting workshops and has two exhibitions coming up, which include the locally inspired artwork of painted skis. "My belief is that we are all artists and as kids we drew — it is what we did, it is how we saw the world and how we expressed ourselves. "I really love seeing these people before and after their art because to me they are a lot lighter and a lot more relaxed. It brings them into the present moment and art explores the side of them that doesn't get a lot of airtime." You can catch a glimpse of Wickes' world and hear more about her experience on Campbell Island at her solo "Home and Away" exhibition in spring at The Old Garage Gallery, Wānaka.
