World stage beckons for Northland paddlers

Three paddlers in the famous Herberts on Tour waka ama team, seen here, were selected in the New Zealand elite open men's squad for 2019. Photo / File

Six of Northland's top waka ama paddlers will show their skills on the world stage at the IVF World Distance Championships in Australia in August.

Two of the paddlers, Ngarie Pehi and Rose Tahiatia-King, will compete in the open women's team division in the Mooloolaba-hosted competition, while Northland waka ama legend Tupu King will compete in the open men's single race.

The remaining three paddlers, Sean Herbert, Conan Herbert and Steve Roulston, will all be paddling in the six-man open men's division, racing over anywhere between 25 to 30km on the Sunshine Coast.

While some may see a half-marathon in the water as a daunting prospect, these three paddlers from Kaitaia's Nga Hoe Horo waka ama club are accustomed to competing at the highest level.

All three make up half of the six-man "Herberts on Tour" paddling team, which has consistently performed at a national and global level. The crew centres around the Herbert family which has had a huge involvement in waka ama on a Northland and national scale.

Being one of the top three teams in long and short distance paddling for the last 10 years, the quality and professionalism of the team was unquestionable. They even made their presence felt on the world stage in 2015 becoming world champions in the 1500m W6 race.

Thirty-year-old Sean, younger brother of Conan and friend of Roulsten, has been paddling with his family for about 26 years and part of the Herberts on Tour team for about 15 years.

Now part of the long distance elite men's team, the three paddlers have had to travel down to as far as Napier and Wellington for monthly training camps with the other members to ensure the group is in sync come August.

In between camps, all paddlers are required to do up to 100km of training per week while wearing equipment which monitors a multitude of factors including heart rate and speed. For a waka ama stalwart like Sean, working with technology has come with a small price.

"It is a bit different when you are training to give back statistics, because instead of worrying about upskilling yourself on the ocean, it's more about a data and requires a lot more fitness," he said.

"In saying that, hopefully our sport will improve by moving more towards using technology."

With two members of the Herberts on Tour team alongside him in the elite men's team, Sean said this was what made the sport special.

"When we do come together all the boys are really excited because its just makes it a bit more personal.

"It's not just a sport, we are going out as family and friends, and it just adds a bit more value to it, that's what we have over a lot of other teams."

Sean, who works as a police officer, said the training commitment for a global competition was hard to manage and required plenty of sacrifice.

"The police are really supportive of these things and like to get behind people getting to a representative level but it has a massive toll on family life, when this stuff comes around family can get pushed to one side."

Despite the challenges along the way, the men from the Herberts on Tour were ready to tackle the gruelling conditions of the long distance format.

"With [short distance], the margin of error is really small, but in long distance, anything can happen," Sean said.

"You're paddling for two hours and even top teams can make a mistake, but we are not going over there just to make up numbers."