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Jul 28, 2023

Rugby v shearing: Stacey Waaka goes head to head with Sacha Bond in athletic tests for World Iron Awareness Week

Share this article Rugby player Stacey Waaka (left) and shearer Sacha Bond took part in athletic tests to raise awareness of the importance of iron. World champion New Zealand rugby player Stacey

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Rugby player Stacey Waaka (left) and shearer Sacha Bond took part in athletic tests to raise awareness of the importance of iron.

World champion New Zealand rugby player Stacey Waaka went up against world record-holding sheep shearer Sacha Bond in a series of athletic tests last week at Massey University in Auckland.

The challenge, facilitated by Beef + Lamb New Zealand and Massey University, is part of World Iron Awareness Week.

This year’s theme is Iron to Move — highlighting the important role iron can play in keeping physically active.

Waaka, who is a Beef + Lamb ambassador, said it was “cool” getting to meet Bond and compete against her in various tests that monitored their strength and endurance.

“Obviously, we didn’t really know much about each other’s sports and the head to head was a fun way to see our different strengths and what we need within our chosen sports,” she told The Country’s Jamie Mackay.

While it was a “good fun” day of competition, there was no winner at the end of it, Waaka said.

“It was more of a comparison and pretty much the results showed exactly why we do what we do.”

This meant Waaka excelled in the vertical jump test (Sacha wasn’t a fan), while Bond “smashed” the Wingate anaerobic test, which involved muscle endurance.

Bond holds the solo women’s eight-hour strong wool lambs world record of 601 lambs, so it made sense she won the Wingate test, Waaka said.

“I could not imagine playing rugby for eight hours — I’d be dying out there.”

Massey University senior lecturer in sport and exercise science Dr Claire Badenhorst ran the tests.

She said both Waaka and Bond were at the top of their respective fields but quite different physically, and that made the results “extremely interesting”.

Iron played a crucial role in achieving peak performance, whether in sports or in maintaining a busy lifestyle, she said.

It is also something lacking in women’s diets.

“Stats from the last National Nutrition Survey indicating that 12 per cent of women aged 30-51 years are low in iron, this is an area I’m passionate in raising awareness in.”

Low iron levels can leave people feeling tired and fatigued, “making both work and exercise a real challenge”, Badenhorst said.

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Waaka’s rural background meant she was familiar with a diet rich in iron.

She was raised on a Ruatoki farm in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and loved the lifestyle.

“I grew up with every single animal you could think of. I loved riding on the horses after school, motorbikes, getting out there, feeding the chickens, our little lambs — we had a few cows so it was quite cool.”

Red meat was a big part of her diet, so she understood why people needed iron.

“I’ve been taught about the importance of having iron in our bodies, for energy levels, for our bodies to function.”

“I love a good steak and I love a good lamb chop.”

She was excited to help Beef + Lamb spread the message about iron and red meat, especially because she felt it wasn’t getting through to women.

Waaka understood that red meat could be more expensive than other sources of protein, but it was an “important part of our lives”.

“[There’s] so much [stuff] circulating on social media about all these different diets that people take and saying, well, we don’t need meat in our lives any more, blah, blah, blah.

“I suppose it’s each to their own but the data shows that actually, yeah, we kind of do need that, especially females who go through menstruation and lose a lot more blood than our male counterparts.

“So I can do my part and try and help share that knowledge with everyone.”

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