Waka Ama: Oysters have taste of gold

Good form shown by the Fat Oysters during a 500m sprint in the W12 event. Photo / Supplied

It has been the sweet taste of success for a Northland waka ama team the Fat Oysters who have collected three gold medals at New Zealand's premier sprint paddling event.

The Fat Oysters squad, from Nga Kaihoe o Ngati Rehia Trust in the Bay of Islands, has been training for months for the country's biggest waka ama event and have had intensive camps over the Christmas break in the lead-up to this week's event at Lake Karapiro, near Cambridge.

All their time on the water, and effort from coaches and whanau, paid off on Wednesday when the young paddlers collected three gold medals, stamping their mark on the J16 grade.

They took out the W6 500m final in a slick time of 1m 54s, after finishing as the fastest qualifiers, then backed up the win with victory in the W12 where two waka are strapped together and 12 paddlers power canoes.

In the 1000m, race teams are required to make three turns around buoys, which tests team skills and communication. The team were in the outside lane number 8, not favoured by paddlers, but near perfect conditions meant it was an even playing field across all lanes. The team paddled their way to their third gold medal.

When interviewed by Maori Television after the team's success, Fat Oysters captain, Rua Mano Herewini, said the team had put in the time training, which had paid off.

"Over the moon, dreaming about it, nearly tears coming down my eyes. The boys have been training hard this year." Although they were the fastest qualifiers, it was a tight race against last year's winners, Push to the Max, from Waitakere.

Herewini said the other team got the jump on them at the start, but the Northlanders clawed their way to the front.

"It's always that start but we'll work on that. Boys done good to come back, that's what happened in the semi yesterday but the boys pushed back good."

In the J16 women's final, team Gogosina, from Tutukaka-based club Mitamitaga o le Pasifika, collected a silver medal in the W6 1000m race. They won their heat followed by a second in the semis to cement a finals spot. During the final the team spent most of the race firmly in second spot but a superb final turn saw them paddle their way back into gold medal contention.

However, it was not enough to take the top spot.

More Northland paddlers were in action yesterday on the lake in single waka and today senior paddlers are back in their teams competing for national honours. A record number of paddlers are competing at the 27th annual event with more than 3000 paddlers and 1500 teams from 65 clubs.