Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Waka Ama: Golden oldies target worlds

By Shane Hurndell
Hawkes Bay Today·
12 Oct, 2015 07:55 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Members of the Heretaunga Tuis Grand Masters Women's Waka Ama crew. Front, Linda Tomuli (left), Jana Johnson and Linda Hill-Rennie. Behind are Lesley Lenden, Bev Williams, Carol Andrews and Gaylene Sciascia. Photo / Warren Buckland

Members of the Heretaunga Tuis Grand Masters Women's Waka Ama crew. Front, Linda Tomuli (left), Jana Johnson and Linda Hill-Rennie. Behind are Lesley Lenden, Bev Williams, Carol Andrews and Gaylene Sciascia. Photo / Warren Buckland

Don't be fooled by the Hawke's Bay Heretaunga Tuis Grand Masters Women waka ama crew's name.

Yes, they are all in the 60-69 years age group. Yes, when six of the crew are on the water they boast a combined age of 420-plus.

But there's nothing archaic about their approach to the sport. Far from it in fact ... particularly with world championship qualifying on the agenda.

Whakatu's Lesley Lenden, one of three in the crew who have won medals at world championships in the past, pointed out they were using GPS technology as part of their quest to qualify for next year's worlds at Lake Kawana on the Sunshine Coast in Australia.

"We're using GPS to sort out our fastest crew. It helps us put the right paddlers in the right seats - there's a lot of juggling going on and it also helps with information related to our endurance and stamina," Lenden said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

To qualify for the worlds they must finish in the top six in each of the three events they are targeting: the W6 500, the W6 1000 and the W12 500 at the January Lake Karapiro-hosted nationals. For the W12 event they can combine with a Horouta crew from Gisborne as they are from the same region - Te Uranga o te Ra.

"From what I hear there will be at least eight crews in the mix in each of our events at nationals so there will be some tough competition to finish in the top six. Qualifying times will be the goal. If we win medals it will be a bonus," Lenden said.

A key component of their build up to nationals was tackling a five-event Rotorua-based series from March to July to build endurance. The shortest race was 14km and the biggest 22km and the Rotoma, Rotoiti, Tarawera and Rotorua lakes were the venues.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Despite being the oldest crew and competing in the senior masters women's grade they won the series by five points from a Tauranga-based crew. They were so dominant with their win in the first four races they didn't have to compete in the final race of the series, which attracted five crews in their grade.

"It was the first time we had done the series and it was the first time we had been together as a grand masters women's crew," Lenden said.

Wellington-based Gaylene Sciascia was a triple gold medallist at the 2010 world championships, Waikato-based Linda Tomuli won five medals and Lenden two at last year's Rio-hosted world championships. Tauranga's Carol Andrews was also among the medal winners in Rio.

Jana Johnson of Hastings is the only member of the crew who hasn't competed at world championship level. However she is no stranger to collecting medals at national championship level.

Because crew members are scattered throughout the North Island, they meet only once a month for training sessions. Most are in Rotorua, which allows them to receive technical coaching from Tauranga-based experienced coach Corrina Gage. Their next training session with her is October 31 and their next regatta will be the Wellington regionals on December 5.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park

Hawkes Bay Today

Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

The two started their senior women's rugby for Hawke's Bay while still at school.

17 Jul 04:00 AM
Premium
Premium
Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park
Hawkes Bay Today

Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park

15 Jul 06:00 PM
Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad
Hawkes Bay Today

Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad

15 Jul 06:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP