News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Riding High

Riding High

New Zealand riders let their legs do the talking for the Pittsburgh Cycling Club.  

Tough Fight

Tough Fight

New Zealand Maori “arguably the most committed and technically sound rugby race on the planet” threaten world champions Australia on their home turf. Also, NZ Maori match a focus for Sydney’s Maori community.  

Founder Found

Founder Found

The lost grave of Denis Hoben, founder of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, uncovered in Sydney.  

Win at Cardiff

Win at Cardiff

New Zealand brings home the Welsh title and overall series crown.  

Music to His Ears

Music to His Ears

Jonah is a big man – and he’s got a car stereo to match.

Bugger Knocked off for Nearly Fifty Years

Bugger Knocked off for Nearly Fifty Years

It’s 48 years since Sir Edmund and Tenzing put themselves on the roof of the world.  

Pinetree Speaks

Pinetree Speaks

Colin Meads on touch judges: “Boy do they give you a gut ache. Last year when there was a bit of a fight in a test match a touch judge ran on the field to break it…

Mahon’s Final Stroke

Mahon’s Final Stroke

“Laconic, grizzled New Zealander” Harry Mahon, legendary international rowing coach dedicated to creating the perfect stroke, died of cancer aged 59. Mahon took team after team to the top, including the British gold medallist eight at Sydney…

Bachelor of the Game

Bachelor of the Game

Training? How about a degree in rugby (Certificate in High Performance Athlete Management) from Massey University and the New Zealand Rugby Academy.  

Not Thick-skinned Enough

Not Thick-skinned Enough

Rugby players who feel invincible because of protective clothing are more likely to be injured than their non-padded co-players says Otago study.  

Captain Cayless

Captain Cayless

Sydney laments 22-year old Nathan Cayless’s decision to follow his Maori heritage home and captain the New Zealand league side.  

Swinging Fortune

Swinging Fortune

Michael Campbell hits an astonishing ten under par round in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open, briefly overshadowing Tiger Woods. But, Campbell commented “It’s nice to lead, but I would rather be leading after the fourth round than after…

America’s Cup Lead-up

America’s Cup Lead-up

Update on the preparations of the American and British Challengers for the Louis Vuitton cup in October next year.

Magic Lives On

Magic Lives On

Six years ago the Black Magic team completed their historic 5-0 sweep of the America’s Cup.

Tiger Captured

Tiger Captured

Tiger Woods is a definite starter for the New Zealand Open next January at Paraparaamu Beach.

Running Man

Running Man

Adrian Blincoe, promising young NZ middle-distance runner, helps the Villanova Wildcats to a historic victory in the Men’s Distance Medley at the NCAA Penn Relays.  

Marathon Mania

Marathon Mania

The Times previews the mania of marathon running and the annual London race with a history of jogging and the Kiwi who changed the way the world thinks about running. In advocating that “running is not only…

Bert Sutcliffe Retires

Bert Sutcliffe Retires

Bert Sutcliffe, New Zealand left-handed batsman “of the highest class”, joins the “Gentlemen of Heaven XI” – a player fit to share a wicket with the late Don Bradman. Sutcliffe  was “a superlative cricketer and a very…

Kiwis in League

Kiwis in League

Former New Zealand league international Dean Bell eyes fellow kiwi Frank Endacott’s job as coach for Wigan: “When Frank’s finished with the job, I want it”.  

Running Hard

Running Hard

Friends of edge-bred Paul Hewitson “lionise his iron constitution. After one bachelor party that ended at 5am, Hewitson slept for an hour then rose for a 15-mile jaunt. When insomnia strikes, he gets up and runs to…

Flying Scrum

Flying Scrum

Steve Williams, caddie to Tiger, has clocked up enough frequent flyer miles “to take a manager, two coaches and three rugby teams from New Zealand to Australia.”  

Strange Happenings in Rugby

Strange Happenings in Rugby

“Somewhere in the depths of the very European Six Nations Championship, two New Zealanders have been having some pretty bizarre experiences.”  

Doubtful Honour

Doubtful Honour

Big Norm Hewitt’s in-yer-face  rendition of the All Black haka and English hooker Richard ‘Cocky’ Cockerill’s gracious eyeball-to-eyeball acceptance makes the Guardian’s list of the “top-ten sporting feuds”.

Runner’s Trots

Runner’s Trots

An urgent need for the toilet is the most common reason long-distance runners pull out mid-race, according to a New Zealand Medical Journal study.  

Never a Softie

Never a Softie

Colin Meads played 55 games for New Zealand, with “not a soft match in his entire 14 years at the pit face. No wonder the legend lives on”.  

Fast and Blur

Fast and Blur

New Zealand Olympic playmaker Mark Dickel, shooting it up for Australian NBL team the Victoria Titans moves at two speeds – “fast and blur”.

Tiger’s Edge

Tiger’s Edge

“Stevie has been in my ear about it and he has definitely told me about his auto racing … I would maybe like to possibly catch one of his races,” says Tiger Woods, commenting on a…

Majors Story (Almost)

Majors Story (Almost)

The amazing story of Travis Wilson: “A New Zealander needing only four years to reach the highest level of America’s national pastime? That would have been a made-for-TV movie.” Also, Wilson has a “huge future,” says 

Still The Best

Still The Best

Leilani Joyce remains squash #1, trailed by New Zealand-based world champion Carol Owens.  

First in Sevens

First in Sevens

The sevens boys had the Hong Kong final all wrapped up, taking them to the top spot in overall series standings.  

Smashing Record

Smashing Record

New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan smashed 26 off one over – a new world record. “I love hitting boundaries and I love taking on spinnners,” said the man of the season, speaking after “the most perfect…

Slight Change

Slight Change

New Zealand superbike champ Aaron Slight picks up two extra wheels driving for Peugeot in the British Touring Car Championships.

Kiwi Brave

Kiwi Brave

“The sight of New Zealand’s Travis Wilson in an Atlanta Braves uniform seems as bizarre as anything you might see in Disney World. Especially when you consider that until four years ago Wilson had never played…

Tua Again

Tua Again

“A crunching left hook has put Tua back in the heavyweight championship picture.”  

Pinetree Growl

Pinetree Growl

“Colin Meads, the grim, great New Zealand lock, was once asked why British and Irish forwards were inferior to those produced by the southern hemisphere – especially the forbidding, beetle-browed men produced by New Zealand. “Too many…

World’s Greatest Sports Brand?

World’s Greatest Sports Brand?

Brandchannel reviews “one of the most distinctive international brands in the history of sport.” “The All Blacks are a team not a brand” insist the NZRFU. “The team’s values are absolutely about winning, whereas the brand’s values…

Cross-course Appeal

Cross-course Appeal

“Sunline, a huge bay five-year-old, is one of those rare beasts to have jumped the fence between her sport and the wider public. She has her own website, an official fan-club and a range of merchandise.”…

The Legend of Steve Williams

The Legend of Steve Williams

Tiger’s clubs net the “amiable Kiwi” over $1 million – making Williams an international top-dollar caddy. Also, will Williams bring Tiger down under?  

Les of Arabia

Les of Arabia

Crusading fitness guru Les Mills takes his gyms to the Middle East.  

“Foreign Britain”

“Foreign Britain”

“And then there is my ridiculous fantasy that if we are to become a foreign land it might be New Zealand, where, unlike our own benighted Scotland, they know how to play rugby. (Big Hint to…

League of its Own

League of its Own

League in the UK: “mullets, mud and Maoris”.  

Awesome Dame

Awesome Dame

New Zealand thoroughbred superpower Sunline receives “spine-tingling” farewell from Sydney. “She is the best horse I will ever train,” states trainer Trevor McKee.

The Win

The Win

New Zealand racing legend Grant Dalton brought giant Club Med in to Marseilles 62 days after leaving Barcelona – winning The Race by over 900 miles and clocking the fastest circumnavigation ever.

Vagana Bio

Vagana Bio

New Zealander Joe Vagana, “one of the best packmen in the world”, is set to be a star with English club Bradford Bulls.  

Circus Life

Circus Life

New Zealand Olympic gymnast David Phillips has given up the competitive grind for life as a circus performer.  

Great Spinner

Great Spinner

New Zealand-born Clarrie Grimmet’s 216 wickets from 37 tests earned him a place in Australia’s pantheon, despite a rift with the big man of Australian cricket.

Adventure on Air

Adventure on Air

The mini-series of the Discovery Channel World Championship Adventure Race, run in the South Island last November, will air on the Discovery in late April, showcasing some of the New Zealand’s toughest terrain.  

Sydders Running

Sydders Running

The Sydney Half-Marathon turns ten. Back in 1996, New Zealand woman Nyla Carroll won the women’s section so fast the official nearly missed her dash over the finish line.  

Down Right Funny

Down Right Funny

“I’m sure New Zealand has its own sense of humour. I know so, because I once wrote a preview of the rugby world cup for a satirical magazine here, a piece which represented what I hoped…

Snow Queen

Snow Queen

New Zealand snowboard star Juliane Bray crowned world champ at Japan’s World Cup Snowboard.

Nick Heir to Jack, Peter, John

Nick Heir to Jack, Peter, John

Hutt Valley high school miler Nick Willis has become the fastest miler in New Zealand history, beating the times of Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and John Walker at the famous Wanganui Cook Gardens.  

Defending Champ

Defending Champ

Michael Campbell came from behind to retain his title at the 2001 Heineken Classic in Perth.

Kiwi Leads Brits

Kiwi Leads Brits

“Most of Kiwi Andrew Longmore’s working life has been devoted to the pursuit of sailing’s Holy Grail. No one has helmed more miles in an America’s Cup boat than Barnes, in racing, testing and development over…

Wonderboy

Wonderboy

New Zealand apprentice jockey Michael Walker 16 years old, 18 months riding, 224 winners, 100 this half-season. Phenomenal.

Aim Off

Aim Off

Twenty years ago, Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to deliver the ball underarm. It was all about sending a message to the Australian Cricket hierarchy …

Dalton Speaks

Dalton Speaks

“Home, however briefly, is beckoning. We should be through the Cook Strait, which separates the North and South Islands of my home country, New Zealand, in four days and that means we will, as far as I…