Farewell, 59P
In a flurry of dirt and dust Super Stock driver Stephen Penn has completed one last lap around his beloved speedway track at Central Energy Trust Arena.
Cheering and clapping from the sidelines, more than 1000 people paid tribute yesterday to the man they described as humble, hardworking and family focused.
Penn was competing in the first race of the Super Stock Teams Champs last Sunday evening when he died after crashing into awall.
Penn, 41, had worked hard to be selected for the Manawatū Mustangs who he proudly represented under his signature number 59P at the competition in Palmerston North.
Officiating the ceremony at Arena 2, friend and teammate Todd O’Donnell said Penn’s family and friends had received messages of kindness and compassion from all around the world. ‘‘He has not left without making his mark, without making a contribution and leaving a legacy,’’ he said.
Touching on Penn’s love for speedway, O’Donnell said as much as Penn was ‘‘more than speedway, he truly died doing what he loved’’.
He said Penn’s accident was blameless, and reassured members of the team Penn was racing against, the Auckland Allstars, that Penn was honoured to be competing against them. ‘‘They raced exactly as they should have raced. They raced hard, they raced fair, and they raced skilfully.’’
O’Donnell ended by saying Penn would encourage the community to go on and pursue things they enjoyed, and it was important to continue racing in speedway events.
‘‘In doing so, we will keep Stephen’s memory alive.’’
Penn’s friend of 25 years, Shaun ‘‘Sharky’’ Pearson, spoke of Penn’s life growing up in the small, rural town of Tokomaru.
He described Penn as a ‘‘hands-on sort’’ who started his working life as a farmhand before going on to work in the construction industry, with jobs at the Building Depot in
‘‘They raced exactly as they should have raced. They raced hard, they raced fair, and they raced skilfully.’’
Todd O’Donnell
Stephen’s friend and teammate
The Fonterra Research and Development Centre, the birthplace of spreadable butter and other dairy innovations, is still at home in Manawatū after 95 years.
The facility started as the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute in 1927, and was renamed when Fonterra was formed in 2001.
Fonterra’s director of category, strategy and innovation Mark Piper said it was proud to be in the Manawatū.
‘‘We’re a big part of the community here, and we work hard to make sure we’re contributing to the broader community as much as we can.’’
The centre was home to a diverse and highly experienced staff, about 350 people from 40 nationalities.
Piper said there was also a strong gender split, with more than half the team being female.
‘‘We have added it up, and we’ve got more than 4000 years of dairy experience nestled on our site in the Manawatū.
‘‘I am coming up to 30 years this year and as some people on site tell me I’m just starting out.’’
Innovation was critical for the future, and Fonterra was committed to investing in this area.
It spent more than $100 million a year on innovation globally, and it was looking to increase that by 50% over the next eight years.
Back in 1927 the centre’s focus was butter and cheese, and 95 years later those two staples were joined by a slew of other products.
Piper said some of the centre’s highlights included creating the best performing instant whole milk powder in the world, cracking the code on functional proteins that go into yogurts and other products, and the creation of spreadable butter, a world first.
There were a number of innovations the centre was working on, among those was further understanding the ‘‘gut-brain axis’’, which was how what people ate impacted their alertness, cognition, and sleep.
Another was Kowbucha, a probiotic that could be used to reduce methane produced by cows.
‘‘It’s really early days, but our first trial showed up to 20% reduction in methane, which is really significant.’’
He said it was a game changer for the country if it could be solved, and another advantage was probiotics were good for the animals.
Central Economic Development Agency (Ceda) chief executive Jerry Shearman said the food and fibre sector played a large role in the region, and the Fonterra research centre was a part of that.
‘‘We are really delighted to have world renowned companies like Fonterra in our region.’’
The food and fibre sector had a regional GDP of $468m as of 2020, and it was growing by 0.7% a year.
Ceda had a goal of Manawatū being recognised as one of the top three agrifood hubs in the world and having companies like Fonterra in the region helped bring that to fruition.
‘‘We’re a big part of the community here, and we work hard to make sure we’re contributing to the broader community as much as we can.’’
Mark Piper
Fonterra’s director of category, strategy and innovation