Salam Alaykum which means peace be upon you all the way from Saudia Arabia. After 35 hours of flights travel and transit times I made it to my destination of Riyadh the site of the original capital city of the first state of Saudia Arabia over three hundred years ago, writes Ruta Mave.

I am attending a world congress meeting for UIPM which stands for Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne or Modern Pentathlon for short.

The Cook Islands have now been accepted into the 130 ^plus nation federations in the world of participating countries. Modern Pentathlon is an Olympic multi-sport first held in 1912. It is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the ancient Olympics, and designed to model skills needed by a soldier of that time. It consists of swimming running shooting fencing and horse riding, which will now be replaced with a form of obstacle racing.

The creator of modern pentathlon was Baron Pierre de Coubertin the founder of the modern Olympic Games.  Coubertin created the contest to simulate the experience of a 19^th century cavalry soldier behind enemy lines. He must ride an unfamiliar horse fight enemies with pistol and sword and swim and run back to his own soldiers. 

It was a male only event popular with the military in 1912 the first American athlete came fifth but later went on to become famous as Colonel George Patton. Not until the 2000 games were women allowed to compete. This enabled the sport to achieve gender parity 24 years before the Olympic movement managed this as a whole.

Originally it took over five days now with obstacle it is condensed to two hour continuous format.

My interest in forming another sport federation was initially to find activities that would engage people of all ages to get moving.  Using a laser gun to shoot a target is attractive it brings out the video gamer in everyone. When I say you have to run a lap first or in between shooting, kids have been eager to do so without the same complaints when you say run a lap.  Even with the inclusive education students I have worked with in some schools this year were fully engaged with it and happy to run so they could shoot.

A trial run with an obstacle course in my back yard proved very popular with kids and set a challenge for each individual to improve on. I look forward to encouraging participants of all ages to give it a go.

Rather than compete with other sports for athletes I see modern pentathlon as a way to add a cross training aspect to their main sport of swimming running triathlon or team sports that require strength skill and agility.

Upon heading out on my first flight leaving Rarotonga I was sadly disappointed at the outside waiting area prior to going through security.  The lovely large hibiscus bushes were gone. What a travesty, we celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the opening of the airport by Queen Elizabeth 11 and the very beautiful tropical plants that had provided flowers for 50 years were ripped out and replaced with boring non-local bromeliads and Mondo grass.  The shelter seats are gone and replaced with benches with no shelter from rain or sun. The tall palms offer no relief either.

I am sure someone got paid well for this Auckland suburban design but it does nothing to showcase who we are as Polynesians.  The grass is overgrown you cannot even see the Mondo tufts and cheap black plastic plant pots with the price sticker on are dotted around the edges with sad droopy cuttings of tipani and possibly something that might one day represent tropical growth. It is a dreadful sight to farewell our tourists with as their last image of Rarotonga.

In stark contrast was my arrival at Doha Airport in Qatar. A member of the United Arab Emirates countries. It is predominantly a dry sand desert location. However, the welcome transit area is a lush green tropical paradise.  After a 15 hour flight it was a welcome oasis. If a country of sand can make tourists feel welcome with a tropical paradise why can’t we who live in a tropical paradise do the same or better?

I also noticed the same landscaper has done the Tupapa medical centre. At least they did not chop down the flamboyant tree.

We are at risk of losing our identity when we choose imported plants or food to be our adopted signature we show the world and call local fare.