Awards inspire path founders

Marlborough's Link Pathway founders may not have come home with the supreme award following the TrustPower national community awards on Saturday, but they have come back brimming with inspiration.

The pathway project was among 25 finalists for the supreme award, won by The Friends of Motueka Hospital Trust. Runnerup was Katikati Open-Air Art.

However, pathway co-founder Rick Edmonds, who travelled to the awards in Nelson with fellow co-founder Pete Brady and Marlborough mayor Alistair Sowman, said he was delighted with the success of Motueka and Katikati.

"I'm not at all disappointed. Just reading the summaries before we went, you realise there's some amazing things going on out there.

"I came away feeling incredibly inspired. It was thoroughly uplifting seeing what people were doing just because they can and because it's good for the community. At the end of the day it's about creating a pathway, not winning an award."

Mr Edmonds said he had ranked the Motueka and Katikati projects first and second in the peer voting.

Now the excitement and pampering of the awards was over he would be getting straight back into the business of working on the 37km path between Havelock and Picton, with a meeting on the project set for this morning.

Ten kilometres has so far been completed on the Linkwater straight and into Anakiwa.

And who knows, they could well be back before the community award judges again, he said.

"We were seen as a work in progress, as compared to the hospital which is finished.

"The main organiser said to me when I said goodbye, `I'm sure we'll see you again'."

- The Marlborough Express

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