Friday, 20 January 2012
WHAKATANE crews have been competing in the National Waka Ama Sprint Championships at Lake Karapiro this week.
The New Zealand Post-sponsored event began on Tuesday with 2500 paddlers taking part during the week and 10,000 spectators are expected to line the shores. Teams from 55 clubs around the country will be taking part with the final races tomorrow.
Tuesday and Wednesday included juniors races and yesterday was the single person events. Today and tomorrow’s races are for senior competitors with some paddlers over 70 years old.
On Tuesday the Wairaka J16 women’s crew from the Whakatane-based Tarawera club placed fourth in the W6 500 heat. They finished in two minutes 38 seconds, edging out Napier crew Te Rau Oranga by 0.2 seconds. In the afternoon Tarawera’s J16 men’s crew finished second in the 500m heat behind a Waitakere crew. They then placed eighth in the semifinal.
On Wednesday, The Tarawera crew took on the 1000m heat and again placed second to Waitakere. In the semi-final they placed seventh, but were over a second quicker. The women’s crew placed sixth in their 1000m heat.
In the team events, six paddlers work together as a team over varied distances from 250 metres to 1500m. There are straight races and races where the crews have to do up to five hairpin turns, making for top spectator viewing.
Tomorrow will also stage the corporate waka ama challenge final. This will include the top New Zealand Post corporate teams from Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.