{"id":260081,"date":"2026-01-30T23:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T23:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/260081\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T23:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T23:11:11","slug":"whangamata-children-hike-3km-over-hills-to-go-around-slips-to-reach-rotorua-touch-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/260081\/","title":{"rendered":"Whangamat\u0101 children hike 3km over hills to go around slips to reach Rotorua touch tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

But without them, the under-14 boys\u2019 representative team, at least, would have had to pull out.<\/p>\n

\"Whangamat\u0101Whangamat\u0101 children in Thames Valley touch teams trekked 3km over farmland to get to a Rotorua touch rugby tournament after wild weather closed roads. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Knowing how hard the players had trained all summer, U14 boys\u2019 coach Rory Mulrennan came up with an idea.<\/p>\n

He knew a farmer whose paddocks bordered the area where the roads were closed, and a plan was hatched to walk over the farmland to get to a road that would take them out.<\/p>\n

Mulrennan and his two children, Kobe, 12, and Akiyah, 9, set off with four other players \u2013 Maddox Smith, 13, Zeb Smith, 11, Brody Hohaia, 12, and Kobi Rose, 13.<\/p>\n

Their mission was to meet fellow coach Nick Hewlett, who was waiting on the other side of the hills with a van the Waihi Athletic Rugby Club had supplied.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe group at the road cordon. <\/p>\n

Rory Mulrennan\u2019s wife, Jess, said four of the players were from the U14 boys\u2019 team, while the other two played in the U12 girls\u2019 and U12 boys\u2019 Thames Valley teams.<\/p>\n

She said they had been watching the weather forecasts and road closures and were getting sad that they might not make it out.<\/p>\n

She said the parents even thought about getting a helicopter.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe players trekking over the farmland. <\/p>\n

The children\u2019s hopes rose when they realised it could be possible to trek over farmland to get out on the Friday before the tournament, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said they can\u2019t believe they were on their way to Rotorua.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jess Mulrennan said they were really proud of the players, and they would now have a memory that would last a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are pretty dedicated to their sports, and if you commit to a team, it\u2019s just what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim Kim Watson\u2011Tanga, of the He Whetu Anamata \u2013 Our Future Starts Touch Tournament organising committee, had \u201chuge respect\u201d for the players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s heart. That\u2019s grit. That\u2019s next-level commitment. That\u2019s the future of our game. Absolute champions, every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson-Tanga said the tournament, held in memory of rugby referee Andrew \u201cRowdy\u201d Timoti, attracted 67 teams, including four from the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

More than 1000 children aged between 9 and 14 came from all over the North Island.<\/p>\n

State Highway 25 at Whangamat\u0101 to Whiritoa reopened on Friday morning \u2013 more than a week after it was closed.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi reminded anyone planning to travel to the Coromandel this weekend to allow extra time and expect to see traffic management and speed restrictions.<\/p>\n

Kelly Makiha<\/a> is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But without them, the under-14 boys\u2019 representative team, at least, would have had to pull out. Whangamat\u0101 children…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[149404,665,1061,29419,24826,21520,111,139,69,1523,19328,1327,89818,213,61,66557,16559,99704],"class_list":["post-260081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-3km","tag-around","tag-children","tag-go","tag-hike","tag-hills","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-reach","tag-rotorua","tag-slips","tag-sports","tag-to","tag-touch","tag-tournament","tag-whangamat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}