Coach expects Maui wildfires will add edge to students’ trip to waka ama champs

The team made up of engineering students has been training for five months. Photo / University of Auckland

By Ashleigh McCaull of RNZ

An Auckland University waka ama team full of first-time competitors will be competing at the world’s largest long-distance canoe race in Hawaii this week.

The team made up of engineering students will face off against more than 5000 paddlers and the best teams across the world over the next four days.

For the past five months the team has been training hard in preparation for the Queen Lili’uokalani Canoe Race in Hawaii.

The competition is named in honour of Hawaii’s last reigning monarch.

The team has three races, the longest being just under 30 kilometres between Kailua and Hōnaunau.

Manamea Koteka, 21, along with many of her team-mates, is one who is either new to waka ama or has very little experience.

Manamea Koteka says being there for one another is important for the team. Photo / University of Auckland

She said they would keep paddling hard, even when they were exhausted.

“If I’m just fatigued and I just feel like I’m dying in the boat, I have to keep going for my team,” Koteka said.

It has been four years since the university has been able to participate in the competition because of Covid-19.

It has come with a lot of sacrifices for the whole team including Manamea. She has had to learn how to balance training and her final year of university.

She said the sport has helped keep her linked to her whenua.

“Waka ama’s a big sport in the Cook Islands and I never got the opportunity to partake back home so I guess during Covid times, just being able to be out on the water, it helped me a lot. I just felt connected to home,” Koteka said.

Sonny Vercoe, 23, is doing his PhD in engineering and has not picked up a paddle for the past six years.

Sonny Vercoe says staying focused is one of his goals. Photo / University of Auckland

He said learning different mind techniques while doing off-water training has been crucial at helping build persistence.

“On the water obviously there’s the harbour, there’s all of the maunga, there’s the CBD with all the buildings, there are the fishermen to keep your mind occupied. But in the gym on the [rowing machine] you’re just literally looking at a wall for three hours so building that resilience firstly before going over kind of makes it easier,” Vercoe said.

One of his goals is to try and stay focused.

“I guess the excitement, the anticipation, the energy over there, I expect that it might be easy for everything to be really overwhelming and for everything to maybe go out the window.

“So one of my goals is to just to stay locked in and stick to the game plan and obviously try to have fun at the same time,” Vercoe said.

Coach Georgia Naera, 25, is no stranger to the competition and has already won gold in the past for the university.

This will be coach Georgia Naera's fourth time at the event. Photo / University of Auckland

It will be her fourth time going back and she has been feeling nostalgic.

“You’re going through it with people who are studying the same degree as you.”

She said team members were often going through the same struggles at the same time.

“This race and the campaigns that I’ve done for this race, they hold a special place in my heart for sure,” Naera said.

This time she will be returning as Hawaii is in mourning after the wildfires on Maui.

She has been trying to figure out how the team can help tautoko the Kānaka Maoli (native Hawaiians), and be mindful of paddlers whose whanau and friends have been affected by the fires.

“Just being aware of that and knowing what’s surrounding us while we’re over there,” Naera said.