“We are talking about some other races, as well,” he said.
“Ocean ski races are held all around the world. We are thinking, ‘Why don’t we do this’.
“We could run a race down the coast, from Turihaua to Gisborne, say, or it could be longer.
“The ultimate would be to get on to a world circuit. If you get a reputation for doing something well, good things happen.
“The Molokai outrigger canoe race (from Molokai to Oahu) is one of the biggest sporting events in Hawaii; the Doctor, off Perth (from Rottnest Island to Sorrento Beach), gets 350 to 400 paddlers every year; Sydney’s 20 Beaches Ocean Classic is big, too.
“We’ve always said, ‘Why not’.
“Everyone says, ‘You can’t’. We say, ‘Nah, you can do it’.”
Organisation of the marathon championships had not been difficult, Thompson said.
“It’s not like when you put on a full sprint regatta, with multiple heats and large groups progressing from heats to semis to finals.
“Even the logistics and the infrastructure have been pretty straightforward. You are only putting a series of buoys in the river.”
Anzac Park would be a good vantage point for spectators, Thompson said.
Junior, open and masters (under 65) competitors would do portages — where they carried their kayak across land — along the grass verge of Anzac Park from the town end to the rowing club steps.
Juniors would do two portages; open and masters competitors, three. Paddlers under 16 and over 64 would do none.
Spectators would not be in the way because the portage area would be roped off.
The inclusion of portage in the race was based on what happened in Europe.
“They do a lot of races around dams and weirs, or from one canal to another,” Thompson said.
“You’re allowed to have the weight of marathon boats down to eight kilograms, but the majority of those racing here will have sprint boats, which have to be 12kg.
“Quaid (Thompson), Jordan McLarin and Sam Ferkins will be racing sprint boats. A few of the older guys will have 8kg boats.
“The lighter weight makes a difference for the start, around turns and in a change of speed. But if they are all going at top speed, it doesn’t make much difference.”
The 4kg difference would be felt in the portage sections, though.
Thompson said 24 members of Poverty Bay Kayak Club had entered, across the age groups. He would not have an indication of the number of outside entries until this afternoon.
Thompson expected the open men’s race to feature three to five competitors jockeying for position.
“Some will run well and do good transitions in the portages. You’ll see them try to get tactical advantages, especially coming out of a turn when they might sprint for 200 or 400 metres to get an edge.”
If paddlers had trained for a portage race, a good, clean transition would have them starting the portage section by standing in the canoe, jumping out and hitting the ground running. At the end, they would get into the canoe and start paddling “before their bum hit the seat”.
These techniques weren’t easy in a “tippy” kayak, and as paddlers got tired, they made mistakes.
In Thompson’s competitive career, the kayak marathons he raced in New Zealand did not include portage, and the European long-distance races he entered were world championship events, also without portage.
The closest thing he experienced was the Le Mans-type start to the International Descent of the River Sella, a world heritage tourism event that attracts over a thousand starters every year.
“Quite a few of the guys I’ve coached have done that race and they still talk about it.”
Europe had a lot of interesting races and he wished he’d done more. Now Gisborne had the opportunity to make a name for itself in kayak marathon racing.
The event is timed to take advantage of high tide.
Individual (K1) racing for surf skis and waka ama starts at two-minute intervals from 10am to 10.12am tomorrow. Tyros will race 6km on a 2km circuit, and all others will race 10km in a circuit between Anzac Park and “the island” 2.5km up the river. The race will have no portage.
Male open and masters K1 kayak paddlers will start their 28km course — a 6km circuit up and down the river — at 11.15am tomorrow, alongside the junior men, who will do 22km. Female open and masters and junior women — paddling the same distances as their male counterparts — start five minutes later.
On Sunday, the K2 (two-man) races for masters, open and junior men will start at 10am, and the race for the women will start two minutes later.
