Big pull for contest

Two teams from Wairarapa Nui Tonu Waka Ama Club are training in earnest for the national Waka Ama competitions to be held at Lake Karapiro on Tuesday.

The under-19 girls and intermediate boys teams will pit their skills against the best teams in the country and have been putting in the hard yards at Henley Lake during a four-month training regime.

Sydney Cunningham, who coaches the under-19 girls said the season has been an especially tough one with club waka not being available for training.

"Luckily we were able to borrow a waka for training otherwise our season would have been over before it began."

Mrs Cunningham said ideally teams train together to gauge each others performance but that both teams had made the most of what they had available and were looking to the nationals for some reward for their hard work.

The under 19 girls was the only team from Wairarapa to compete at the regional regatta held in Titahi Bay last month and finished a creditable third behind two very strong Wellington crews in both 500m and 1000m races.

Mrs Cunningham said they have formed "a very tight unit"remaining almost unchanged from last year's team with Lesh Cklarkson being the only newcomer.

She replaced Ness Howard, who has shifted away from Wairarapa.

"It's quite a hard slog when you take into consideration there are few opportunities for us to race.

"Basically I try to keep the team motivated enough to maintain a decent training schedule for long periods without much racing."

The girls undertook a lot of fund raising and were lucky enough to get some sponsorship, Mrs Cunningham said.

Lexy Karena is the only Wairarapa junior to compet in the OCI competition at Lake Karapiro and the first junior girl from the club to qualify.