“We thought surely one of the Tahitian clubs must have done enough, but that wasn’t the case. Their paddlers were representing clubs all over the place.”
Horouta won with a medal tally of five gold (plus a win jointly achieved with another club), five silver and two bronze medals.
Out of a total of 21 gold medals contested in the men’s division, Tahitian crews won 17. New Zealand had one gold medal, in the Master 70 division.
And Tahitian crews were not winning by small margins. The gaps were decisive.
It was a different story in the women’s division, where New Zealand crews — and especially those of Horouta — were dominant in the J16 and J19 grades.
Listing some of the Horouta successes, Walker said the Puhi Kaiariki J16 women’s team won gold in the W6 500 metres and W6 1000m, and combined with paddlers from Rotorua club Hei Matau to win the W12 500m double-hull race.
The Hinetoa J19 women’s team won the W6 500m and, with clubmates Pipitaiari, the W12 500m double-hull. Hinetoa also took silver in the W6 1000m.
Walker made special mention of Gaibreill Wainohu and Rangi-Riana Williams, who competed in club, elite and W1 (or individual) races. They paddled for Puhi Kaiariki, Hinetoa, open women’s team Kaiarahi Toa, the New Zealand J19 Development crew and the New Zealand elite women’s crew, and also contested W1 races as individuals.
Wainohu won seven gold and two silver medals, Williams, five gold and four silver. They finished first and second respectively in the J16 women’s W1 final in a race that was decided only in the last stroke.
The strength of the competition was illustrated by the fact that New Zealand elite women’s coach Kiwi Campbell’s Kaiarahi Toa open women’s crew — typically dominant at national level — were second to a Tahitian team in all three of their races.
The Horouta master 40 women’s team Nga Kopara Toa won gold in the W6 1000m and silver in the double-hull.
Medals achieved in the men’s races were a bronze to the Woolley Kumara team in the open division V12 500m, and a bronze to the Baby Heli’s in the J16 V6 500m.
Walker said one of the hard-luck stories of the championships concerned the disqualification of the YMP Waka Ama Club’s Hinetu team in the women’s J16 1000m.
They had gone to the championships for the one event, and finished their heat in a time faster than that recorded in any other heat in the division. However, they were disqualified because one of the crew was judged to have come off the seat during the race (paddlers must be seated).
“Had they got through, they would have been in the medals,” Walker said.
Their appeal against the decision was dismissed.
The championships had shown just how good the Tahitians were, and how hard they were to beat in their own water, Walker said.
“They instinctively know how to paddle, and they know the sea. It brought everyone back to earth.
“People will be thinking (about the next world champs), ‘As long as the Tahitians are not there, we have a chance’.”
The leading overall medal tallies were — Tahiti: 51 gold, 39 silver, 26 bronze; total 116. New Zealand: 25 gold, 31 silver, 16 bronze; total 72. Hawaii: 3 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze, total 13.
In all, 2055 athletes took part — 1800 came from Oceania, 114 from South America, 109 from Central and North America, 29 from Europe and three from Asia. New Zealand had the biggest representation, 552. Tahiti were next, with 542.
