A true blue BMX fan
By IMOGEN NEALE - Papakura Courier
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When constable Tony Tumai peers into his wardrobe all he must see is a vast row of shirts in various shades of blue.
One shade he wears for his Monday-to-Friday day job as the police iwi liaison officer for Counties Manukau south.
The other he saves for the weekend when he stands on the side of BMX tracks and becomes Mr Tumai – official BMX race director.
His dedication to that sport has just won him the Police Council of Sport official of the year award.
As a race director his job isn’t simply to send riders around the track the right way – he has to manage the whole event – from enforcing rules, dealing with complaints and overseeing more than 100 staff.
"You’ve got to know your rules," he says.
And it’s no coincidence Mr Tumai does it all wearing a blue shirt – the uniform is something he implemented to make race officials "more easily identifiable".
"In terms of BMX rankings you have what we call the blue shirts and from there is the red shirts and then the grey shirts," he says.
"There are only six of us in New Zealand that have the blue shirts and they are people who have run either national or North Island champs.
"I’m the old fart of BMX. I’m about the longest-serving official."
And despite the fact that he doesn’t whizz around the track on two wheels himself, he says his involvement with BMX is "a hobby – a release from policing".
It was a hobby – kick-started by his children 18 years ago – that almost became a career.
"I had a decision to make about whether I went to police college or go and officiate at the world champs," he says.
"And that was the make or break of getting into the international scene."
Police college won out and Mr Tumai had to sit back and watch as fellow BMX officials flew to Beijing to oversee the sport’s Olympic debut.
But he isn’t an armchair athlete and he’s busy trying to finish the one Union Cycliste Internationale paper he needs to gain the rank of International Commissaire.
Once he’s done that he stands a chance of being selected to officiate at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The sport might not enjoy the same sort of media coverage rugby, cricket and rowing get but Mr Tumai says New Zealand’s riders hold their own on the international stage.
"We were the second biggest country at the Worlds – we had 250 riders. New Zealand managed to get six world No 1s and we had a lot of world No 2s and 3."
His own children have all been national BMX champions and have travelled the world with their bikes. Daughter Alice Rika, who is also a constable based in Papakura, made it up to world No 5.
His younger daughter Tayla Rika – who is applying to become a police officer – made it to No 12.
He says his son Riley Rika "just wanted to do big jumps".
"He’d stay at the back of the pack and just do big jumps."
And the family connection to BMX doesn’t end there. Mr Tumai’s wife Donna Rika is New Zealand’s only female BMX commentator and her father Tony is the world’s oldest competitive BMX rider.
And the colour of the shirt Donna wears when she’s commentating?
"It’s beige," Mr Tumai says. "They do their own thing."
In winning the Police Council of Sport’s official of the year Mr Tumai joins past winners such as rugby referees Colin Hawke, Vincent Munro and Brett Murray.
Last year the award was won by Michael George for his role as a cricket umpire.
