‘Elite unit’ of runners on hīkoi to Wellington

Runners head through Kawakawa on the first day of the hīkoi from Cape Reinga to Parliament. Photo / Peter de Graaf / RNZ
By RNZ
Since the hīkoi to Wellington started in the Far North, groups of runners have been hitting the pavement across the North Island to support the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, rain, hail or shine.
On Saturday, many of those runners were out early in the rain across Hawke’s Bay – with each runner covering part of the distance traversed by the wider hīkoi.
Toitū te Tiriti spokesman Eru Kapa-Kingi said because of the hīkoi’s week-long timeframe, the runners had to operate on their own schedule.
That usually meant hitting the pavement early every day and meeting up with the rest of the convoy in the evenings, he said.
“The runners or the running crew are almost like an elite unit or specialised unit that do their own thing to cover the ground, because it’s one of the tikanga from the ‘75 march that the whenua is covered.
“I suppose that’s a representation of tangata whenua, turangawaewae, those things.”
Every region the hīkoi passed through organised themselves and that included their own runners, Kapa-Kingi said.
“The rohe [regions] organise the rallies, the hīkoi routes, everything, and we just turn up with our core crew and then they organise their runners as well to pick up at the borderland of their rohe and take it to the other end.”
Aaron Karena joined the group of runners covering the 30km from Dannevirke to Woodville.
The group – which was divided into runners, bikers and horse riders – left Dannevirke at 6am on Saturday.
“I probably talked a big game but I ended up biking, but it’s all good,” Karena said.
“For an old fulla like me it was pretty far, and once all the runners and the hōiho [horses] and the bike riders had done their stint … we all met back up for a kai, karakia and to pass the mauri on to Rangitāne o Manawatū.”
Karena said the journey made him feel like a part of the wider hīkoi for Te Tiriti.
The hīkoi, against government policies including the Treaty Principles Bill, is due to reach Parliament tomorrow.