Gifted young Māori rower with the long name knows the fastest way to finish line

Te Atakura Huiarere Potaka-Osborne Milner-Skudder. Photo / River City Press Whanganui

By River City Press, Whanganui

Te Atakura Huiarere Potaka-Osborne Milner-Skudder may have the longest name in New Zealand Rowing but certainly knows the shortest way to get to the finish when undertaking 100 metres on the indoor rowing machine.

Te Atakura recently secured the New Zealand Lightweight (under 61.5kg) Championship record in the 13-14 year female age group, covering the distance under the watchful eye of Aramoho Whanganui Club rowing director Axel Dickinson.

Te Atakura’s second name, Huiarere, is after a rapid on the Whanganui awa near Parikino, which is where her great koko, Mike Potaka, was from and according to her mum Ashleigh, also reflected the “rapid” arrival of Te Atakura into the world as she was born three weeks early in 2008.

Mike Potaka was a member of the Aramoho Whanganui Boating Club coxed four, which won the NZ Championships in 1955 at Wairoa, being the first local rower of Māori lineage to win a prestigious Red Coat (national title).

Te Atakura was motivated to take up rowing as her mum and aunties rowed as well. Her whānau say they took up rowing to stay connected to her great koko. Te Atakura also has a distant cousin, Bill Osborne, who was a member of the Whanganui High School’s winning Maadi Cup Eight in 1972, the only time the school has ever won this historic trophy.

Aramoho Whanganui Rowing Club clearing out some boats. Photo / Bevan Conley

Joining the Whanganui High Schools Novice intake in 2022, Te Atakura quickly adapted to her new sport with successes at the NZ Club Championships (bronze) and the NZ Secondary School Championships, where she was in the two crews who secured silver in the Girls Under 15 and Girls Novice Under 18 Coxed Quads.

Te Atakura particularly admires NZ Olympic gold medallist Emma Twigg, whom she was lucky enough to meet at the North Island Secondary Schools Regatta earlier this year.

Te Atakura now aspires to see if she can break the NZ indoor rowing record in the Girls 15-16 Lightweight category. Her longer-term ambitious goal is to be selected for the Girls’ Under 18 New Zealand team.

In the meantime, Te Atakura continues her rowing development with her crewmates from Whanganui High School at the Aramoho Whanganui Rowing Club and is enthusiastically looking forward to the forthcoming summer regatta season where her competitive attributes can be further challenged.

This story was first published in the River City Press Whanganui and is republished with permission.