That was rather ironic, but as soon as I read Roy’s story, I knew his creation needed to live on, and indeed he does.You see the Chesterhope Magpie (‘Chepie’ for short) has been at it again. He can’t help himself. He sees something and he picks it up and he runs off with it, or on this occasion, walks off with it.
As you will see from the accompanying photo, the object that drew his attention this time was a large red cone. It is not clear what he does with them, or how many he has stored away, but during the recent National Club Championships hosted by Ramblers, Chepie could be seen carting off red cones every day.
Acting like an investigative reporter, I tailed Chepie for the four days of the Nationals. I took several hundred photos, which are on the Ramblers website, as a decoy. If Chepie thought I was taking photos, supposedly for Ramblers and Bike NZ, he would not suspect I was spying, I mean, checking on him. And so it came to pass. The photos were taken and downloaded by Steve Watson for all to enjoy, using something he calls Picasso, or whatever. Some of the ITT photos are upside down, just for artistic flare. Actually I have no explanation for this other than the fact investigative reporting can sometimes turn your world upside down.
But let’s get back to the main story. It has now been confirmed that Chepie engaged the help of Chepie 2 (real name Ken McKenzie) and Chepie 3 (real name Brett Hooker). Chepie 2 and Chepie 3 were also seen gathering red cones and other objects as well, such as microphones, clipboards, walkie talkies and so on during the Nationals.
Not everyone will appreciate Chepies, but in fact the club owes these three Chepies, and several helpers they swooped on during the Nationals, for organizing and running an event that can only be described as a resounding success and something special. These Chepies have brought a lot of credit to Ramblers, which Bike NZ has publicly recognized. The photos of the Nationals are testimony to the magnitude of the event these guys were in charge of, and so the finding of my undercover investigation is that they are deservedly the first recipients of the Roy Van Panhuys Chesterhope Magpie trophy, awarded to those who pick something up and run with it successfully. So congratulations Gavin, Ken and Brett, for a job well done. I am sure Roy would have been one of the first to say so.Now if only I could remember where I put that trophy…..
