Taihape, once ‘famed’ as a railway settlement on the main trunk line from Auckland to Wellington, makes a plaintive attempt, every Tuesday after Easter, to become fleetingly famous again by getting contestants in various age groups to throw gumboots across a field – the longest throw being the winner. It’s as idiotic as discus, javelin or wire hammer throwing except that the missile is a rubber gumboot and it doesn’t qualify as an event in the Olympic Games.
Taihapeans (or whatever they’re called) are so proud of this world-shattering event that they have erected a monument in its honour – a corrugated iron gumboot – at the northern entrance to the town. Most tourists from overseas are puzzled by this ‘icon’ and shake their heads in disbelief.
© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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