Waka Ama: Heretaunga Tuis looking to add to global silver

Lesley Lenden.

Hawke's Bay's Heretaunga Tuis waka ama crew will hunt a second medal at the world championships on Australia's Sunshine Coast today.

"We're on target and over the moon," Tuis paddler and multiple world champs medallist Lesley Lenden said yesterday as she reflected on Wednesday's silver medal.

Her crew, which also included Linda Rennie-Hill, Bev Williams, Gaylene Sciascia, Linda Tomuli and Jana Johnson combined with Waitakere's Aurora crew to capture silver in the masters 60 women's V12 500m final. They finished a length behind the winning Hawaiian team and a length ahead of another Hawaiian team which finished third.

Two hours after this final on Lake Kawana, the Heretaunga Ararau o Ngati Kahungunu Waka Ama Roopu crew finished second to half of Wednesday's winning Hawaiian team in their heat of the V6 1000m event in the same age group. This qualified them for today's semifinals.

"It also meant we could have today off. But we're still going down to the lake to check on some of our rivals who have repechage races," Hawke's Bay's 2015 masters sportsperson of the year Lenden said.

Her partner and clubmate Trevor Taurima was disqualified in his masters men's 70-plus singles and in an event in which he competed with a composite 12-man 60-plus crew.

"The lanes over here are a lot more narrow than at Lake Karapiro and this has caught a few of the Kiwis out," Lenden said.

Another crew from the Clive River-based club, the Steel Eels senior men's 50-plus team, finished third in their 1000m heat and will tackle a semifinal today.

Disqualifications also hindered the Hawke's Bay-dominated Kahungunu Taumata Rau J19 boys and girls crews.