If you like your racing to offer conditions that allow you to concentrate on technique then the Portage weekend was for you. There was barely a breath of wind or a bump on the water on a warm, blue sky day. Jeff Neilson did the early hard yards before he had even picked up his steering hoe, towing the four Maitahi waka over the hills to Picton.
There was a marked decline in the numbers of waka attending this year’s event and probably fewer surf-skis as well. How much this had to do with the local council’s decision, on safety grounds, to prevent the race organisers from following the same course that has worked for decades isn’t known, but you have to feel for Andrea and her helpers from the Marlborough Multi-sport Club. It’s hard enough getting people to spend their time putting on these events without the local authorities making things harder, when they should be bending over backwards to support them.
The four Maitahi teams consisted of two Krakenz men’s teams and Nga Manu and Hinetahi in the women’s category. Whaea Works from Whakatu Marae/Waikawa took the honours in the women’s race.
The race between the two Krakenz crews was a close one, with never more than a couple of hundred metres between the waka but it was the more handsome of the two crews who got to the finish line first. Special mention to Matt Walker who completed his first race : not bad starting with a 25km effort (plus the 5km to and from the start/finish line). Also a big up to Sean Timoney who has been organising and promoting the Tuesday night men’s sessions for which we now regularly have 2 waka and are on the verge of making up a third.
And finally a mention to the club members who turned up to help us re-rig on Monday even though they had not paddled at the race !
Its never too early or too late to start paddling waka ama
We always welcome new members to the Maitahi Outrigger Canoe Club.
We have social and racing waka ama crews catering for a wide variety of ages and abilities.