A POWERFUL haka marked the victory of a real home-grown Wairarapa team at the Dragon Boat festival at Henley Lake.
Tumapuhia Taniwha Xpress won the petite final in their first year of competing.
"It's the first Maori, family-based team in Wairarapa," captain Te Wheetu Waaka said.
The team is based on the hapu
Tumapuhia Arangi, linked to the east coast of Wairarapa.
"When we first started only four of us had ever been in a boat before," Mr Waaka said.
As the race victors celebrated a passionate chant of "ka mate, ka mate" caused them to turned their heads.
The Tumapuhia win was being met by a haka from some other family members, rivals from the More FM boat ? which beat Tumapuhia in the semi-final but couldn't catch them in the final.
Receiving the honour and responding in kind, the Tumapuhia team also took up the chant and advanced, until by the end of the haka the teams were almost shouting head to head, culminating in hongi and embraces.
Edwin Perry, chairman of the hapu steering committee, said he was proud of the team.
"There's a lot of mana on those shoulders," Mr Perry said. "It's a hapu that's not afraid to try new things.
"It's good getting those young fellas out there."
