Waka ama: Bay pair picked for worlds in Tahiti

International duty: Hawke's Bay paddlers Roni Nuku and Kaye Ross have been selected for the world distance waka ama champs in Tahiti. Photo/Warren Buckland

It's a first at world championship level but Hawke's Bay waka ama paddlers Roni Nuku and Kaye Ross will have plenty of previous experience to call upon.

Nuku and Ross are the only Bay paddlers in the New Zealand masters women's over-40 six-person crew which will compete in the inaugural world distance championships in Tahiti during June. The multiple world and national sprint distance champions were both members of the Kiwi composite crew which won gold at the world sprint championships on the Gold Coast last year.

"This time we will have a different crew and we will be racing over 27km instead of the sprint distances," Nuku said attempting to deflate the high level of expectation which usually accompanies the pair when they head overseas.

The fact Napier Girls' High School Te Reo Maori teacher Nuku and Hukarere Girls College physical education teacher Ross were key members of the Haeata Ocean Sports Club's Manuz'n'Jamimaz crew which won four consecutive 25km titles at the national long distance champs from 2010-2013 will work in their favour. So will the numerous training camps their crew will have before departing to Tahiti.

The first since Wellington-based coach Turi Hodges named his seven-strong squad after the trial process ended three weeks ago was staged in Napier at the weekend.

"In addition to Kaye and I we've got paddlers from Taupo, Tauranga, Raglan and Whangarei so our camps will be moved around a bit to reduce the travel for everyone but with the aim of getting as much training as possible on the ocean," Nuku explained.

She pointed out the world champs are expected to involve 30 countries with each allowed to have one team in each of the open men's and women's, masters men's and women's and under-19 development male and female divisions.

Nuku's hubby and fellow multiple world and national champion Maika Nuku is coaching the Kiwi open and masters men's crews which also trained in Napier at the weekend. Two Aussie-based Kiwis are in the open men's crew and they intend to fly to New Zealand for all of this crew's training camps because they are eager to represent their home country in Tahiti.

In addition to competing for the masters women in Tahiti, Nuku will coach a six-person New Zealand adaptive crew which will race over 18km at the five-day regatta. This crew will race in the morning and the masters women in the afternoon on day one.
"That's going to be a huge day for me," Nuku said.

Her crew includes two Hawke's Bay paddlers, 21-year-old amputee Peter Cowan who paddled as a teenager but recently returned from an overseas mission, and AJ McDonald who is blind.

"AJ is a solo mum with three boys. She also had a job with the Napier City Council ... I don't know how she manages to fit everything in but she does," Nuku said.

"Last year I took her to the world sprint champs and she won a singles title. Last weekend she completed the swim leg of the Tremains Triathlon before joining us for some more paddling training."

Nuku predicted crews from Hawaii, where adaptive paddling is strong, Australia who boast the adaptive world sprint six-person champions and Tahiti, would provide her crew with their toughest competition.

Hawke's Bay's Honoria Ropiha is managing Nuku's adaptive crew while Bay couple Ian and Herora Hosford are managing Maika Nuku's open men's and masters crews.

"Obviously Maika would love to be paddling in Tahiti but he did such a good job coaching the crews he had on the Gold Coast last year he was asked to coach again," Nuku said.