The Waka Ama Secondary School Nationals at Lake Tikitapu. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Waka Ama Secondary School Nationals at Lake Tikitapu. Photo / Andrew Warner
Waka ama champions and competitiors from secondary schools across Whanganui have returned home from Rotorua after a successful week on the water.
The Waka Ama Secondary School Nationals recently took over Lake Tikitapu, Rotorua, with over 1500 competitors from 105 schools competing in 170 different races over four days.
Competitors from Whanganui City College competing in the waka ama competition last week.
Whanganui was represented by Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Tūpoho, Te Kura Ā Iwi O Kōkōhuia, Cullinane College, Whanganui City College and Whanganui Girls’ College.
Each school or kura had at least one team in the Under-19 and Under-16 grades, with Cullinane College entering 12 teams, both boys and girls, in mixed grades.
Whanganui City College students from the J19 Aotea team won the Te Kei 500-metre (bowl) final.
Whanganui City College J19 girls’ team Aotea came away with gold ribbons, winning the Te Kei 500-metre (bowl) finals last Thursday and also achieving 10th place overall in the Te Takere 250m (plate) final.
The boys’ team came fifth in their race in the Te Takere 500m (plate) final.
From Cullinane College, four teams of both boys and girls managed to reach both 250m and 500m finals on Thursday.
Waka Ama NZ chief executive Lara Collins said it was exciting to have rangatahi from across Aotearoa come together again.
“We are looking forward to the racing on the water, as well as the whanaungatanga off the water. It is going to be an awesome week.”
The Waka Ama Secondary School Nationals at Lake Tikitapu. Photo / Andrew Warner
This year marks 21 years since the first Waka Ama Secondary School Nationals in Ōrākei in 2002.
“It’s awesome to have this event go ahead for our rangatahi, and we are looking forward to seeing them all out on the water and lakeside having fun,” Collins said.
Veteran paddler, coach and administrator Turanga Kerr said the standard of waka ama has improved markedly in that time.
“When I was at school, our coach would just say to us, ‘Go and do this, do 10 of these, five of those’, and after about an hour and a half, we would be finished and [would] maybe go for a run the next day,” Kerr recalls.
“These days, each paddler has their own schedule, their own plan to achieve success in singles and teams races and to maximise the benefits of all their hard work.”
The tired paddlers made no hesitation to return home, as the next Māori event on school calendars are the Pae Rangatahi kapa haka regional competitions and Manu Kōrero regionals, where rangatahi will yet again be dedicating their time and efforts to represent their schools proudly.
This report was produced under the Public Interest Journalism initiative, funded by NZ on Air.
