Club stalwart collapses after walk
A Feilding Old Boys Oroua club stalwart collapsed to the ground, fearing for his life, after a strenuous 26-kilometre walk.
The walk, to raise funds for the rugby and netball club, took a turn for the worse when 75-year-old life member Peter Lewer collapsed shortly after finishing.
Lewer was taken to hospital an hour after trekking from Kimbolton to Feilding’s Johnston Park on April 5, with tests showing the five-hour effort left him severely dehydrated. He was released from hospital after six hours.
Lewer said he felt fine immediately following the walk, on his birthday, before a ‘‘bout of dizziness’’ overtook him.
‘‘We got back to the Feilding Hotel for a beer and some chips. I must have finished my beer pretty quickly and then I felt it coming on,’’ he said.
‘‘I came out in a sweat, so I ripped my tracksuit and shoes and socks off, and said to my wife ‘you’ve got to take me home here’. Then I took a fall in the foyer. I thought ‘oh, I might die here’. There was no pain in my heart or chest though, so I knew it can’t have been too serious.’’
The walk was whipped by high wind and rain. but Lewer refused to postpone. ‘‘People wanted to delay it because of the rain, but it was my 75th birthday and I was going to do it,’’ he said.
‘‘The going was good. It was a bit windy, but it didn’t bother me and I had a hat on, which I had to hold on to a few times.’’
Lewer said he regretted not taking regular drinks due to the cool temperature. ‘‘It’s all down hill from Kimbolton and I do plenty of walking, regularly. I obviously didn’t drink enough. I had a couple of drinks at Kimbolton before we left and a couple on the way.’’
While Lewer never played premier rugby for Oroua, he was the president of the club for three years and couldn’t remember the last match he missed. The walk has raised nearly $2000.