Champions: New Zealand Winners

I go to Te Papa Museum in Wellington with my 5 year old son, George, who loves to watch the movie about Golden Days. I love to watch it too, even if I have viewed it over a dozen times. There are more than a few moments when the eyes start to water and the breath grows a little short as the sheer pride of being a New Zealander, of being a part of our successes and disasters, overwhelms me. In this age of globalalisation, when our media is focussed more readily on the mishaps of other countries, it is wonderful to sit on an old chair and reflect on us as a country.

CHAMPIONS is an inspiring book that ensures we don't merely reminisce, but constantly look at the present and to the future when considering the wonder of our little country. Jessie Carson travelled from Auckland to Bluff and back again, via Kaikohe, spending every night of almost four months in a caravan with her husband and two year old son. Through talking with the locals, she discovered 43 champions. I use her word 'champions' with much enthusiasm. Jessie's photographs capture these champion New Zealanders who believe there is an opportunity to live each day as something special, and contribute in a unique way. There is a wonderful range of people, from volunteer firemen and farmers, fishermen and artists, to those who encourage you to "take time to tinker in your sheds, to spend a more time enjoying the opportunities that life has to offer.”

Each is inspirational in such a different way. I loved discovering that Curly Troon has thrown a gumboot at Taihape 38 metres, but even more, that his hero is his dad, and how they used to go fishing and how his father was a St John's volunteer for 30 years. I was amazed that it was possible to shear 648 lambs in nine hours at an average of 50 seconds per second, and that Emily loves the diverse lifestyle of farming ... and I could list more, but then you'd not be able to savour Champions for yourselves.

The book is one to sit back and enjoy, to take pride that this country is filled with so many wonderful people, that Casson has captured them so honestly and elegantly. But it is more than that: it is a book to discuss with children, with family and friends; to sit around the table and talk about the wood chopping champions, and how you went to the shows or watched them on a Saturday afternoon. A conversation starter that leaves you with a smile on your face, remembering the past and celebrating that this is our present and our future.

Then to finally reflect that this book was collated over only four months, and how many hundreds, perhaps thousands more people there are throughout our country who are also Champions.

Wheldon Curzon-Hobson