Get Together For Gynae!!

On Tuesday afternoon the NZGCF held 'Get Together For Gynae' - an afternoon mingle hosted by our ambassador Beth Allen to relaunch the new name of the Foundation (previously The Silver Ribbon Foundation) and the new look logo.

I wasn't there so here are some photos the the girls from AUT took during the event! It was a great success with about 100+ people at Auckland's Sale St Bar. Here is a pic of the girls with Auckland MP's Nikki Kaye and Jacinda Ardern. Well done girls! Check the Facebook page for more photos to come!

ASB this month...

We are very excited to announce as a result of support from ASB Bank, New Zealand Gynaecological Cancer Foundation donation boxes will be in ASB Banks from 20 to 30 September.

The donation boxes hold our new wallet cards detailing signs and symptoms of gynaecological cancers.

The donation boxes display a BEAT poster, featuring Beth Allen, our new Ambassador.

NZGCF on Good Morning

The girls at NZGCF have been very busy this month organising various different events and interviews around the place.

Last week I appeared on Good Morning, and had a bit of a chat with Sarah Bradley, one of the hosts. We had a pre recorded interview on the 8th the same day as the Parliamentary 'Share & Care' veeeeeeeeery early that day (hope you can't tell), and it aired last Wednesday the 15th . One of the AUT girls, Courtney accompanied me to the studio and we had a ball!

Sarah was very lovely, and it didn't even seem like there were cameras around! I also managed to meet the rest of the team (Brendan, Hayden and Asta) and Courtney and I were interviewed for a separate piece about our perfect wedding proposal!

All in all a great day :)

Check it out here.

Mid - September update

What a busy couple of weeks since last blog!

Awareness month is flying by and people all over the country are getting involved and running Share and Care events to help spread the word on Gynaecological cancers and boost awareness.

As part of awareness month, publicity opportunities have been keeping me busy around training training. I headed to Wellington last week where I filmed an interview for the the Good Morning show (to air next wed) and the Share and Care event at Parliament with the rest of the team from the New Zealand Gynaecological Cancer Foundation. We had a really receptive audience and I think everyone in attendance learnt plenty!

Louise Upston was our host for the day and we were all very grateful for her efforts organising the venue and attendees, it was much appreciated, the event would not have got off the ground without her generous effort.

Hopefully the day helped all those in attendance personally as well as educating them about all of the good work foundation has been doing and our hopes for the future. The day was an important step in obtaining government support for our reasonably young foundation. It also shows how far we have come in a year, our main share and care in 2009 was held in a boat shed!

Im a bit of a morning/afternoon tea connoisseur, this was one of the best yet, a big thanks to Gabrielle for organising this, the cupcakes were devine! After the share and care we had a little photo-shoot on the steps of parliament! Thursday it was back to reality at 7am!

Check out the team and I below:

The first share and care

The NZ Gynaecological Cancer Foundation has carried out it's 1st share and care event was carried out to 68 women of the Auckland Executive Club on Wednesday 18th.

Sarah did a quick Q and A quiz, and she has reported back that it went really well, and the women learned an amazing amount of information that they didn't know when they came in!

The winner won a bottle of Moet courtesy of Orsini.

Check out Sarah in action, below:

Next Woman of the Year Awards!

So after three training sessions(I know!) on Thursday Sarah and I (GM of the foundation) headed to the Next Woman of the Year Awards ceremony.

It was an honor to be a finalist, I was touched to have even been nominated in the first place but to be one of the 25 finalists was really quite special. I had an absolute ball at the awards, it was such a treat to be in the company of such an amazing group of women. I didn't win anything not surprising against the calibre of people in the sport section but I got so much out of the experience, and a certificate of recognition that I will display with pride!

You can check out the winner, Dr Emma Parry here :)

It was great mingle amongst the fellow finalists and hear their exceptional stories and also make them aware of Gyneacological cancer. The other real treat was meeting the two key judges for the evening, Dame Catherine Tizard and Gareth Morgan who had the challenging task of whittling down all the entries to get the top 25!

Each of the 25 finalists was presented on arrival with a white camellia to tie around their wrist. The camellia was the endearing symbol of womens suffrage in New Zealand.

For now, the frock must be put away as the rowsuit calls my name! Worlds here we come!

Check out Sarah and I below!

NEXT Woman of the Year Dinner

Tonight Sarah (General Manager of Silver Ribbon) and I are attending the NEXT Woman of the Year Dinner (I was nominated for it in the sporting category a little while back...)

Will keep you posted on the results!

Fi

World Champs Selection!

Hi Everyone

An update on the trials that were going down this week. I've been re-selected in the double, but with a new partner, Emma Feathery. It's all quite exciting - Rowing NZ announced yesterday that we have our biggest ever team for the champs!

18 crews (and 55 competitiors) have been selected to compete on Lake Karapiro at the end of October. The last time the champs were held in New Zealand was 1978.

Also for the first time since 2007 there will be a men's and women's Eight!!!!!

Back into training hard on Monday - but for now I'm off to Central Otago for the weekend to visit my family!

Watch this space :)

Fi

Trials this week!

Hey guys,

Just keeping you posted with the trials going down this week - not surpising everyone from the squad is on the list! My doubles partner Anna Reymer has a serious injury to her back (I mentioned in a previous post) that is going to keep her out of action for awhile and she won't make world champs which is totally gutting :(

Now this means that a new double has to be selected or a quad depending on what the selectors want as the priority boat. Trials are going down this week until Friday afternoon and will involve 1500 - 2000m races against our compeition to form rankings which will determine possible combinations.

There is no set format you row or race when you are told to, so you have to be prepared and on call ( and on edge!) the whole week.

Talk soon, Fi

Trials

The world champs trials begin next week 2nd August - watch this space for upadates!

Fi x

A must see..

The Vagina Monologues

Wednesday, 25 August 2010 - Saturday, 11 September 2010

They want to talk to you.

Searingly funny, sometimes shocking, moving and unashamedly honest, Eve Ensler's seminal work The Vagina Monologues moves beyond embarrassment and fear and examines how “down there” is a means of female empowerment and the ultimate embodiment of individuality. These potent stories from a range of ages, ethnicities and sexualities will make for a jubilant night at the theatre.

The Vagina Monologues will be presented in conjunction with the launch of The Silver Ribbon Foundation's Awareness Month in September, New Zealand's fledgling gynecological cancers foundation.

Starring: Beth Allen, Hannah Banks, Alison Bruce, Lisa Chappell, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Jacque Drew, Michele Hine, Gabrielle Henderson, Rachel House, Anna Jullienne, Natalie Medlock, Rachel Nash, Toni Potter, Antonia Prebble), Sylvia Rands, Jodie Rimmer, Sophie Roberts, Fleur Saville, Fern Sutherland and Sara Wiseman
Direction: Craig Hall, Caroline Bell-Booth, Rachel House and Sylvia Rands
Design: Simon Coleman

8:00pm
5pm shows on Sunday
Matinee: Saturday 4th September, 2pm

The Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Avenue, Auckland CBD
Adults: $28, Concessions: $24, Actors Equity/ Students: $20
Bookings through iticket – www.iticket.co.nz or 09 361 1000
Door sales available on the night.


www.iticket.co.nz

Next magazine

Hi guys,

This month's Next Magazine has a little piece about me in their section on 25 inspirational women! woohoo!

It's out now so check it out if you feel like seeing my mugshot in a magazine!

Ciao,

Fi :)

Guess what..

Only two months until spring!

Just watch this space -

September = awareness month, and November = NZ Rowing National Champs on Lake Karapiro!

Also, NZ Girl have loaded up a 'letter to my former self' you can catch it here:

http://nzgirl.co.nz/articles/13345?57ed1337fe4fdf9c65ddaf8555a9a1bb

Catcha later

Fi :)

FIFA!!

Hi guys, I'm posting to you all from the other side of the world!

This year NZ Rowing sent over a small group to race in the first world cup in Bled in Slovenia. My doubles partner Anna injured herself, and then there was an injury in the women's quad so it was decided that I would go over to race with them - had all of about four hours to pack and get on a plane because they were already over there! Talk about hectic..

After some training when I arrived, we headed to the Slovenia vs All Whites game which was AMAZING!! On top of the fact that Bled is absolutely stunning - a must see visit if you make a trip over here, its 30 degrees there at the moment!

We then headed to Munich (the next location for the next world cup regatta), which I realised was very very cold and my packing did not consist of many warm clothes! Racing started on Friday, and I have been placed in the bow to steer - something I haven't really done before but am looking forward to the challenge!

Anna has said I am to be on a mission to keep an eye out for what our competition are up to before we meet them in Lake Karapiro later this year. Our next stop is London, to train for two more weeks and to race in the Royal Henley regatta on the river Thames. After that its Switzerland and then back home to NZ.

Seeing all the other countries roll up to race has made me feel I am so lucky to be back doing something I love, and I appreciate it more post-cancer. I really want this to be a platform to raising awareness of gynaecological cancer and for the Silver Ribbon Foundation.

Cheers for reading!
Will keep you posted of results, happenings on tour and any other info relevant to Silver Ribbon.

Fi :)