It has been the sweet taste of success for a Northland waka ama team the Fat Oysters who have collected three gold medals at New Zealand's premier sprint paddling event.
The Fat Oysters squad, from Nga Kaihoe o Ngati Rehia Trust in the Bay of Islands, has been training for months for the country's biggest waka ama event and have had intensive camps over the Christmas break in the lead-up to this week's event at Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge.
All their time on the water, and effort from coaches and whanau, paid off on Wednesday when the young paddlers collected three gold medals, stamping their mark on the J16 grade.
They took out the W6 500m final in a slick time of 1m 54s, after finishing as the fastest qualifiers, then backed up the win with victory in the W12 where two waka are strapped together and 12 paddlers power canoes.
In the 1000m, race teams are required to make three turns around buoys, which tests team skills and communication. The team were in the outside lane number 8, not favoured by paddlers, but near perfect conditions meant it was an even playing field across all lanes. The team paddled their way to their third gold medal.