About 30 pupils from Carisbrook School and Bathgate Park School gathered for the final activity of the Rangatahi Fitness Leadership Programme at the University Rowing Club to bike about 22km to and from Port Chalmers yesterday.
On Tuesday the pupils will officially graduate from the programme.
Māori Pacific liaison officer and programme organiser Senior Constable Toni Wall said the programme was about breaking down barriers between the children and police officers.
It is run through the charity Blue Light, which works with police to organise youth programmes.
The latest pupils are the 10th cohort to take part.
"A lot of these kids come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and police are probably in their homes in a negative way," Snr Const Wall said.
"This is about building positive relationships with these kids."
The pupils met every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am for an hour of physical activity.
This year they learnt karate, circuits, boxing, worked out on the Jacob’s Ladder and Devil’s Staircase, and had a gym session in the police station gym.
Police officers then cooked the pupils a healthy breakfast before they headed to their classes.
Snr Const Wall said the classes were based around fitness and nutrition, but it was also about learning to commit and complete something.
"They’re great, amazing kids, and some of them really need this."
The memories made during the course stayed with the children for a long time.
Snr Const Wall said she was at a Dunedin rugby club earlier this year when a former programme attendee approached her.
"He would have been what, 18, 19, 20?
"He came up to me and he goes, ‘Toni! Remember me? I’m Vinnie’.
"He said the programme was just the best thing for him."
