KEY POINTS:
Maoridom's largest event since the Maori Queen's tangi saw more than 40,000 enjoy the country's best kapa haka exponents over four days at Bay Park in Tauranga.
The top prize - the Duncan MacIntyre Trophy - was won by Te Waka Huia from Auckland. Whangara Mai Tawhiti from near Gisborne came second and Te Kapa Haka o Te Whanau a Apanui from the eastern Bay of Plenty finished third.
Many of the 13 groups left to perform yesterday were past winners.
Te Waka Huia's choral and the acoustics were as clear as if the group was performing in a cathedral. Other groups, like Te Kapa Haka o Ruatoki, addressed political themes.
Because Friday, the second day of competition, was a washout, organisers were forced to change the format.
Originally, 36 teams were split into three pools, with nine teams making a finals day. However, rain forced a rules change, leaving teams with only a single 30-minute shot to impress.
For the 29 judges coping with their increased workload - some with binoculars - it was a day of endurance.
One less day also meant the teams were kept to a strict timetable, with MC Mabel Wharekura-Burt warning those supporters doing haka in the crowd in recognition of their team's onstage efforts that they should not go on longer than the actual performance.
Competition chairman Selwyn Parata said that regardless, the 1440 performers knew why they were there.
"They all knew that they were coming to a competition, and there was always only going to be one winner."
