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Those who founded the Hawke’s Bay Canoe Club 50 years ago wouldn’t have envisaged the diversification of something that has gravitated from what was essentially an outdoors pursuit to sports that almost readily grab Olympic Games gold medals for New Zealand.
Canoe pole, a successful offshoot of the activity of the Hawke's Bay Canoe Club, which holds its 50th-anniversary celebrations this weekend. Photo / Supplied
So, now comes the time to celebrate the groundwork with the club marking its 50th anniversary this weekend based at its shed at Meeanee Quay, Napier, and across the water at the Napier Sailing Club.
While the main event will be a function at the sailing club, highlighting the diversification is the invitation for members past and present to visit the club’s Tutaekuri-Waikare stream slalom site off Franklin Rd east of the Napier Golf Club, venture further afield to the Waikaretaheke River near Lake Waikaremoana in northern Hawke’s Bay, paddle or raft on the Mohaka River, and watch team sport at the open-air canoe polo facilities that opened at the Mitre 10 Regional Sports Park in Hastings four years ago.
The proximity of the white water is seen as the great attraction of the club, along with also not being too far from other spots such as Tongariro, Whirinaki, Wairoa, Rangitīkei and Rangitāiki, Te Hoe, Kaituna, Kawerau, Ruakituri, Waikaretaheke and Mangahao.
Among the big events in the club’s history was an international slalom in 1988, with over 150 paddlers.
The Hawke’s Bay Multisports Club, now known as Triathlon Hawke’s Bay, was also started by members of the canoe club almost 40 years ago, and flatwater paddling is with the Hawke’s Bay Kayak Club, formed in 2005 and based at the Clive River, essentially for the sport that has produced Olympic Games greats such as Dame Lisa Carrington, from Rotorua, and her major New Zealand rival, the HBCC’s own Aimee Fisher who started out in schools canoe polo.
Among the events the clubs promoted and managed were the 3 Rivers Clive Triathlon, a popular canoe triathlon of the 1980s and 1990s that paved the way for such triumphs as club member George Christison’s 2004 win in the ultimate Kiwi test, the Coast to Coast, in the South Island.
The canoe polo started by the club expanded so much it had to develop a separate entity, using swimming pools before ultimately, the development of the internationally recognised four-courts at the sports park, for a club that now caters for about 800 participants.
Casey Hales, one of the multi-disciplined canoeists to come out of Hawke’s Bay, training at the Hawke's Bay Canoe Club's flat-water slalom training site near Waiohiki in 2017 in preparation for a junior world championships. Photo / NZME
The club initially focused on white-water kayaking, mainly on the Mohaka and Ngaruroro rivers, but with members also venturing on club trips to other challenging rivers throughout the country.
Slalom paddling led to the establishment of a course on the Waikaretaheke River with flow regulated from the Piripaua power station and where the club ran an international event in 1988 with 150 paddlers from overseas.
Club stalwart, past-president and jubilee organiser Bill Turvey said the club had always had a base of people with conservation interests and had worked “tirelessly” to get conservation orders on the Mohaka and Ngaruroro rivers and with Genesis Power to manage releases on the Waikaretaheke.
“We are one of the many canoe clubs supporting White Water NZ in its role as instigator in maintaining access and free-flowing rivers within New Zealand,” he said.
One past member is Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate Tom Kay, who is still an active white-water paddler.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today and has 51 years of journalism experience, 41 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues and personalities.
