Sport Whanganui debuts secondary school manu competition to encourage rangatahi participation

Pikirangipa Eketone-Kohunui (pictured) of Whanganui City College won the junior boys' category. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown

Young manu-poppers got to show off their style in an inter-school competition in Whanganui.

About 50 students attended the first-ever Whanganui Secondary Schools’ Manu & Bomb Comp, created to get rangatahi in the water.

The competition on Wednesday, March 5, at the Whanganui Girls' College outdoor pool was managed through Sport Whanganui and the Ngā Tai O Te Awa Trust.

The students competed to perform the best manu, a technical form of jumping into the water, with judges grading their form, aesthetic and splash size.

Sport Whanganui’s rangatahi activator Quinn Hemingway was pleased with how smoothly the event went.

“It went awesome for our first time,” Hemingway said.

“There were really good numbers and a turnout from the schools – it is definitely something we can expand on in the future.”

The six schools that put forward their manu-poppers were Whanganui Girls' College, Whanganui High School, Whanganui City College, Rangitīkei College, Te Kura o Kokohuia and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tupoho.

Ahumai Rauhina-Spittal (Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Tupoho) and Pikirangipa Eketone-Kohunui (City College) won the girls' and boys' junior categories respectively.

Kara Delai (Girls' College) and Romeo Newton (High School) took out the senior girls' and boys' sections.

Students tried to generate the biggest splash and deliver the most aesthetic jump. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown

Hemingway said the idea first picked up speed in 2024 with the schools' sports co-ordinators.

“We wanted a fun event that will get kids in the water,” she said.

“Not necessarily for a swimming championship with top swimmers but something that would be of interest to another audience of students.

“With the Manu World Championships that they do around the country, it gets a lot of traction and is super popular so we wanted to do something at a local level and it was received well.”

The Z Manu World Champs, held in Auckland, is a popular annual event that Hemingway would like to replicate in Whanganui.

The Z Manu World Champs is an annual event held on Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.

Hemingway said the event was only able to go ahead because of the support and help from Ngā Tai O Te Awa, school sports co-ordinators and Girls' College principal Nita Pond, who provided the pool.

“It is probably one of the only pools around here that has those diving boards, has a good enough depth where it is safe to jump,” Hemingway said.

She said the event now had a platform to build on and she had learned what could be improved for future events.

“We definitely could have more kids next time; we wanted to start it out small because we weren’t sure what our run time would be like,” she said.

“We ended up getting through it very quickly so in the future having more kids involved, a few more categories or elements to it – there’s definitely space to expand on it.

“It would be cool if it grew into something a lot bigger – to see the schools do their own qualifiers or tryouts then bring a select few to the overall competition.”