Race aim to hone edge

Cancellation of the waka ama sprint nationals due to Covid-19 has prompted local clubs to be resourceful in the ways they keep their paddlers motivated.

Two weeks ago Horouta Waka Hoe held a successful simulation day, and tomorrow Gisborne's other big club, Mareikura Waka Ama Club, will host their Manawa Hine W1 relay race.

The club is hopeful that this event will become a permanent fixture on the waka ama calendar.

The online race notice says the event is a celebration of “Tairawhiti waka wahine greatness” and will highlight the “skills, determination and power” of the district's wahine.

“Through times of uncertainty let us gather in strength and weave more happy times,” the notice said.

Mareikura water safety officer Raipoia Brightwell said the event would focus on women and wellbeing.

The club hoped this event would act as a booster for mothers, grandmothers, daughters, aunties, nieces and mokopuna, and be a kind of post-Covid-19 recovery initiative. Ages of those taking part range from 12 to mid-60s.

The event will be based on the Waimata and Turanganui rivers, and run as a relay for single waka in teams of two. Each paddler completes a three-kilometre circuit before tagging her partner on land.

Paddlers start at Anzac Park, go down the Waimata River to the Turanganui River and carry on to the diversion cut. They turn, ama-side, and paddle back to Anzac Park. There and back is a distance of three kilometres.

Both team members do three loops of the course for a total distance of nine kilometres each and 18 for the two of them.

They will start at 8am and leave in small groups at intervals to avoid traffic congestion.

A similar event, in which two-person relay teams would paddle a three-kilometre course three times each, but on a course parallel with Waikanae Beach, was planned for Sunday but was cancelled.