This week is Men’s Health Week, aiming to cull the number of Kiwi men dying from preventable illnesses.

They encourage men to start with the small steps that can enable them to turn their health issues around.

On their website they say that ‘living longer, more enjoyable lives takes a little work, but we’re all up for it’.

Scotty ‘Sumo’ Stevenson is an Ambassador for Men’s Health Week and told Francesca Rudkin that after his wife died of cancer a few years ago, he’s very aware of how important it is for his children to make sure he’s around for as long as he can be.

He’s also coming from a background in sports broadcasting, and thinks that while we look at athletes as role models, but don’t tend to take the same consideration for our health as they do.

“We forget that while we might not be competing for Olympic gold medals, we can still do our best every day to get our exercise in and to make sure that if we’re not feeling 100%, then we go and do something about that.”

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This week is Men’s Health Week, aiming to cull the number of Kiwi men dying from preventable illnesses. 
They encourage men to start with the small steps that can enable them to turn their health issues around. 
On their website they say that ‘living longer, more enjoyable lives takes a little work, but we’re all up for it’. 
Scotty ‘Sumo’ Stevenson is an Ambassador for Men’s Health Week and told Francesca Rudkin that after his wife died of cancer a few years ago, he’s very aware of how important it is for his children to make sure he’s around for as long as he can be. 
He’s also coming from a background in sports broadcasting, and thinks that while we look at athletes as role models, but don’t tend to take the same consideration for our health as they do. 
“We forget that while we might not be competing for Olympic gold medals, we can still do our best every day to get our exercise in and to make sure that if we’re not feeling 100%, then we go and do something about that.” 
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Join Kerre Woodham one of New Zealand’s best loved personalities as she dishes up a bold, sharp and energetic show Monday to Friday 9am-12md on Newstalk ZB. News, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and entertainment – we’ve got your morning listening covered.

Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Scotty Stevenson: Men's Health Week Ambassador on the importance of taking care of your health

The Blues and Chiefs will be facing off before a packed-out Eden Park for the Super Rugby Finals.

The game kicks off at 7:05pm this Saturday, tickets for the match selling out within a couple of hours.

Former All Blacks coach and Blues Board Member John Hart told Kerre Woodham that to have a full sellout crowd within a few hours of tickets going on sale shows that there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the game.

He said that there’s been a lot of negativity surrounding New Zealand rugby this year, and people have forgotten what’s happening on the field.

The changes have made a fantastic product, Hart said, and he thinks people have recognized that this game is something very special.

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The Blues and Chiefs will be facing off before a packed-out Eden Park for the Super Rugby Finals. 
The game kicks off at 7:05pm this Saturday, tickets for the match selling out within a couple of hours. 
Former All Blacks coach and Blues Board Member John Hart told Kerre Woodham that to have a full sellout crowd within a few hours of tickets going on sale shows that there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the game. 
He said that there’s been a lot of negativity surrounding New Zealand rugby this year, and people have forgotten what’s happening on the field. 
The changes have made a fantastic product, Hart said, and he thinks people have recognized that this game is something very special. 
LISTEN ABOVE

John Hart: Former All Blacks coach and Blues Board Member ahead of the Super Rugby final between the Blues and the Chiefs

Environmental awareness and the risk of dolphin bothering seems to have been behind SailGP’s decision to withdraw its racing from Lyttelton next year and move the whole kit and caboodle to Auckland. 

You may remember they looked at Auckland but there was inability to provide the kind of spectator stands that Russell Coutts wanted, So off to Lyttelton they went, with the caveat that you have to be mindful it's a dolphin sanctuary, and if the dolphins turn up then racing has to stop. Sure, fine, everybody agreed. Then back in March, the opening day of racing was called off due to a dolphin sighting on the course. And while the second day of racing was able to go ahead without a hitch, and according to some commentators served up one of the best days of racing in the league's history, Russell Coutts said no, that's it. We can't be stopping every two seconds. It's not ideal. It's a beautiful amphitheatre, great racing, but if the Dolphins are going to be stopping racing every two seconds, we can't be coming back. 

Among Sail GP athletes Lyttelton Harbour was voted as the league's best location to sail. It was an anonymous poll amongst the athletes are following their event in Dubai, late in 2023. Great Britain strategist Hannah Mills said there were pros and cons for whether the league should return to the venue in ‘25 after the way things played out. She said it's the most amazing place to sail. It's really beautiful, so many people came to watch, the conditions were incredible. For a sailor, it's perfect, but we have to be more conscious around the places that we go, the effects that we have and the traces that we leave, said Hannah Mills, the British strategist. 

And that's the big thing behind Sail GP. They talk about being champions for change, they talk about raising awareness of conservation ideals through their sport. Better sport, better planet, so you can't be mowing over dolphins while you’re promoting that sort of ethos within your sport. And a lot of the sailors within the sport would feel very much the same way. Sure, let us sail, but we don't want to cause harm while we do it. 

So, Auckland it is. And that must mean the issues around the Wynyard quarter have been resolved because when Auckland events manager Nick Mills announced last year that Sail GP wouldn't be coming to Auckland, he said that they'd worked really hard with Russell Coops and the Sail GP team to find a way to hold the event the way Russell wants to hold it. That is, in the middle of the harbour, with a stand on either side of the harbour and he said it's just not possible to do it this year because the land that Coutts wanted to use for the stand was where the old tank farm used to be. And although the tanks have been removed there's been contamination and it hasn't been cleared to be used for any other purpose. So presumably, the situation is that Russell Coutts and Sail GP have said no, Lyttelton Harbour’s too hard. Too many dolphins. Too much stress on the environmentally aware sailors and the environmentally aware landlubbers, terrified that Dolphins will be hit, so we'll move it up to Auckland, where presumably there are also dolphins, but not as many. It's not a sanctuary. And the land will have been remediated so that Russell Coutts can have the course exactly as he wishes. And let's face it, he who pays, says. 

If Russell Coutts wants to bring a whole lot of money, a whole lot of television coverage, a whole lot of good juju to a town or a city, he can say this is the way I want it. And if you don't like it, he'll go somewhere else. 

So, I'd love to get your thoughts on this - could it have worked at Lyttelton? Was there good will? Or was the fact that the course was in the middle of a dolphin sanctuary, just silly and unworkable? I mean, it looked like a beautiful natural amphitheatre and certainly was well supported by the locals. It's a great race. It's a great initiative. It's a great idea. Good people are involved, good people are supporting it. If not Auckland where? 

Environmental awareness and the risk of dolphin bothering seems to have been behind SailGP’s decision to withdraw its racing from Lyttelton next year and move the whole kit and caboodle to Auckland.  
You may remember they looked at Auckland but there was inability to provide the kind of spectator stands that Russell Coutts wanted, So off to Lyttelton they went, with the caveat that you have to be mindful it's a dolphin sanctuary, and if the dolphins turn up then racing has to stop. Sure, fine, everybody agreed. Then back in March, the opening day of racing was called off due to a dolphin sighting on the course. And while the second day of racing was able to go ahead without a hitch, and according to some commentators served up one of the best days of racing in the league's history, Russell Coutts said no, that's it. We can't be stopping every two seconds. It's not ideal. It's a beautiful amphitheatre, great racing, but if the Dolphins are going to be stopping racing every two seconds, we can't be coming back.  
Among Sail GP athletes Lyttelton Harbour was voted as the league's best location to sail. It was an anonymous poll amongst the athletes are following their event in Dubai, late in 2023. Great Britain strategist Hannah Mills said there were pros and cons for whether the league should return to the venue in ‘25 after the way things played out. She said it's the most amazing place to sail. It's really beautiful, so many people came to watch, the conditions were incredible. For a sailor, it's perfect, but we have to be more conscious around the places that we go, the effects that we have and the traces that we leave, said Hannah Mills, the British strategist.  
And that's the big thing behind Sail GP. They talk about being champions for change, they talk about raising awareness of conservation ideals through their sport. Better sport, better planet, so you can't be mowing over dolphins while you’re promoting that sort of ethos within your sport. And a lot of the sailors within the sport would feel very much the same way. Sure, let us sail, but we don't want to cause harm while we do it.  
So, Auckland it is. And that must mean the issues around the Wynyard quarter have been resolved because when Auckland events manager Nick Mills announced last year that Sail GP wouldn't be coming to Auckland, he said that they'd worked really hard with Russell Coops and the Sail GP team to find a way to hold the event the way Russell wants to hold it. That is, in the middle of the harbour, with a stand on either side of the harbour and he said it's just not possible to do it this year because the land that Coutts wanted to use for the stand was where the old tank farm used to be. And although the tanks have been removed there's been contamination and it hasn't been cleared to be used for any other purpose. So presumably, the situation is that Russell Coutts and Sail GP have said no, Lyttelton Harbour’s too hard. Too many dolphins. Too much stress on the environmentally aware sailors and the environmentally aware landlubbers, terrified that Dolphins will be hit, so we'll move it up to Auckland, where presumably there are also dolphins, but not as many. It's not a sanctuary. And the land will have been remediated so that Russell Coutts can have the course exactly as he wishes. And let's face it, he who pays, says.  
If Russell Coutts wants to bring a whole lot of money, a whole lot of television coverage, a whole lot of good juju to a town or a city, he can say this is the way I want it. And if you don't like it, he'll go somewhere else.  
So, I'd love to get your thoughts on this - could it have worked at Lyttelton? Was there good will? Or was the fact that the course was in the middle of a dolphin sanctuary, just silly and unworkable? I mean, it looked like a beautiful natural amphitheatre and certainly was well supported by the locals. It's a great race. It's a great initiative. It's a great idea. Good people are involved, good people are supporting it. If not Auckland where?

Kerre Woodham: Could SailGP have worked in Christchurch?

The news New Zealand is out of a technical recession isn't necessarily cause for celebration. 

Stats NZ figures show GDP rose 0.2% in the three months to March and 0.2% in the year to March.

But Herald Business Editor Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham that we could still see a series of further per capita contractions over the next few quarters.

He says if we don't end up back in a technical recession, things could go backwards in another quarter due to the crunch starting to bite on interest rates. 

The Reserve Bank says the growth outlook for the rest of this year is slightly more positive.

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The news New Zealand is out of a technical recession isn't necessarily cause for celebration.  
Stats NZ figures show GDP rose 0.2% in the three months to March and 0.2% in the year to March. 
But Herald Business Editor Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham that we could still see a series of further per capita contractions over the next few quarters. 
He says if we don't end up back in a technical recession, things could go backwards in another quarter due to the crunch starting to bite on interest rates.  
The Reserve Bank says the growth outlook for the rest of this year is slightly more positive. 
LISTEN ABOVE

Scotty Stevenson: Men's Health Week Ambassador on the importance of taking care of your health

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