Nor'West News: August 12, 2021

NOR’WEST NEWS Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thursday August 12 2021 7
Close contest for gold at
retirement village games
MAIREHAU’S Doreen Watkins
says her race for gold at the
Olympics@Ryman cycling final
included a tough push for the
line at the end of the 13.5km
race.
The 71-year old Diana Isaac
Retirement Village competitor,
who admits she is a bit of a
fitness fanatic, was chased hard
by silver medal winner Sue
Greet, from Halswell’s Anthony
Wilding Retirement Village.
A total of 104 people from
31 Ryman retirement villages
throughout New Zealand and
Australia entered the virtual
cycling event, with 18 in the
women’s event.
Doreen said activities and
lifestyle co-ordinator Laura
Richmond warned her Sue was
making up ground in the final
kilometres.
“Laura tapped me on the
shoulders and said: ‘Watch
this one.’ I had just enough
to put a wee spurt on,” Doreen
said.
The course was “hard work”,
especially the changing of gears
on a hill.
“I remember the supporters
saying: ‘Change up a gear,
change up a gear’ as I was going
CHAMPION: Doreen Watkins relaxes after her massive
cycling win on 13.5km route during the virtual Olympics@
Ryman games.
down the hill.
“I was struggling to get up a
gear and I also thought I don’t
know whether I can stand that
pressure, if I want to have a little
bit left at the end,”
While Doreen had ridden a
bike as a child going to school,
her love of cycling awakened
with a tour of the Otago Central
Rail Trail in around 2004.
She feels as fit as she has for a
long time.
Three times a week she exercises
on the treadmill, backed up
by a 1km swim.
On other days she completes
a village gym class before again
stepping onto the treadmill.
“I take the weekend off,” she
laughed.
The residents and spectators
in the Christchurch village gym
have witnessed some stunning
cycling from the women and
men, who were motivated in
part by the Japanese scenery on
the screen in front of them. ​
DONATED: Retired firefighter Colin Rae has gifted a bench
to Redwood Fire Station. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN ​
Recrafting history
• By Fiona Ellis
AS OF last month, the St Albans
Fire Station may no longer be
standing, but a part of it survives
at the Redwood Fire Station.
Eighty-two-year-old retired
firefighter Colin Rae has crafted
a bench from the timber of a
bridge at the St Albans station
where he served part of his 40
years as a brigade member.
During the early 1960s, he
lived onsite at the station, which
then encompassed nine houses.
His was on the other side of
Dudley Creek and joined to the
main area by a footbridge.
“I thought it would be nice to
get something from the old station,”
Colin said.
Scraping back the tar to reveal
the timber underneath was the
hardest part of the otherwise
straightforward build, the life
member of the NZ Professional
Firefighters Union said.
Most of the station houses
were sold off during the 1980s
once the firefighters duty hours
were changed, although the station
remained.
In 2019, the station was closed
and the appliances and staff were
moved to the new Redwood Fire
Station in Styx Mill Rd.
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