Horouta prepare for national sprint championships

Despite the disruptive year and trying to rebuild after the event of Cyclone Gabrielle in February of last year, Horouta te Waka coach Kiwi Campbell remains confident that the club will do well again this year. Picture by Paul Rickard

A Gisborne waka ama club is still hoping to dominate the National Sprint Championships despite all the disruptions from Cyclone Gabrielle.

Horouta dominated at the 2023 championships, taking home multiple gold medals across all the different categories.

Horouta coach and paddler Kiwi Campbell said the setbacks from the cyclone have only made the team more resilient.

"We continue to aspire to be the best club in Aotearoa. That's one of our key goals. We work collectively as a club to make sure those aspirations and goals (become) a reality and that's a huge undertaking by our club — by key people within our club."

She said as frustrating as the disruption was from Cyclone Gabrielle, it was important for the club to stay positive during their training.

"We don't control the taiao (environment) and the weather that happens. We have no choice but to be resilient. If you look at it any other way it's going to negatively impact the way we operate and think. We do the best with what we have. It just makes us be more creative in our training and how we do things."

Because of the state of the Waimata River, the team have had to pivot and at times relocate to other areas such as Uawa, Rotorua and Lake Waikaremoana in Te Urewera.

Another club heavily impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle was Tākitimu Outrigger Canoe Club, located in Napier. Interim president Louie Papuni, entered under the Golden Masters category this year, said it had been a tough year.

"Some guys got washed out and had families with nowhere to live and it was just a complete struggle.

"There's a lot of people affected and a lot of people's work. So when it comes to making a living, you know, (it) gets a bit tough. If you're not working, you've got no money coming in, you're not going to be going away for the weekend paddling somewhere."

After the cyclone hit the region, there was a rahui placed over the ocean because of fears from human remains being washed out to sea.

"The Napier influence system didn't cope during the floods, and they were pumping a lot of raw sewage into the estuary which went through the Inner Harbour and past where we were paddling," Papuni said.

"So it was sometimes in quite regularly, the water was pretty disgusting. So they kept people out of the water for that too."

The rahui from the state of the ocean meant Tākitimu couldn't train for more than a month.

Road closures north of Hawke's Bay meant the club could only relocate south of the region, making competition limited.

Papuni said the National Sprint Championships will be incredibly competitive because it was a chance to focus on qualifying for the World Championships in Hawai'i.

"There's a lot of clubs up north decking crews to qualify for World Champs so that's going to make it a lot harder this year. In a non-World Champs year the competition's pretty tough still, but this year I've noted World Champs are on and you've got to qualify in the first five or six crews to go. So the competition is going to be pretty tough."