Waka Ama: Paddlers succeed in wake of setback

Paddlers from the Otaki club in action on Lake Karapiro. Photo / Christine Cornege

Not owning any canoes or having regular access to water should be a major hurdle for a waka ama club to overcome.

But Te Rau o Te Rangi ki Otaki have found a way for their members to train for this week's National Waka Ama Sprint Championships on Lake Karapiro.

Waka ama, translated to outrigger canoe in English, is one of the country's fastest-growing sports and the Otaki club, established in 2011, has been a regular competitor at the nationals in recent years.

But they struggled last year and sent only six competitors after they had the use of only one borrowed waka for training.

They have since reconnected with local school Te Kura-a-iwi o Whakatupuranga Rua Mano to borrow two canoes, and a family also lends the club three vessels.

That means Te Rau has been able to register 120 paddlers for this year's nationals, although there has been the small matter of finding a place to practice.

"We go through a quarry to access our lake and it's actually not open to the public yet," said Ngahuia Henare, who is a founding member and coach of the Te Rau club.

"So we've had to do a memorandum of understanding with Winstone Aggregates, which we are grateful for and we can only use the lake from 5.30pm onwards."

That hasn't dimmed the enthusiasm of Te Rau, who are keen to find their way to the finals. The club have also taken to land-based activities to maintain fitness.

Waka are provided at the nationals so there will be no boat issues for Te Rau.

Crews from 61 clubs throughout the country and overseas will line up in various classes, competing in 10 age divisions at the nationals, which run from January 12-17.

Waka ama paddlers race over distances including 500m, 1500m and marathon races of 30km-75km. The ama, or outrigger, on the left-hand side balances the waka or canoe, helping it to slice through the water with every stroke.

At the championships, clubs will compete for national honours in one, six and 12-paddler teams over distances of 250m, 500m, 1000m and 1500m.

Crews will be competing in the junior under-16, junior under-19, open, masters and senior masters divisions.

A record 3,000 paddlers have signed up to race, including crews from Papua New Guinea and Australia.