Stripes on ... we're ready to go

KELLY HODEL

STRIPES ON: Waka Ama rowers from Porirua enjoy the delay in rowing. Front (left to right): Tem Southon, Matai Wetere, Ihaka Topia. Back (left to right): Hawaiki Wallace, Turi Tulepu, Elijah Brooking and Wirongi Parata.

Each with a purple racing stripe dyed in his hair, Elijah Brooking and his waka ama crew mates were ready to go.

But some wayward buoys delayed racing for them and hundreds of other competitors on the first day of the 2010 National Waka Ama Sprint Championships.

More than 2000 competitors and spectators turned up at Lake Karapiro yesterday only to see the racing put back from 8am to 12.30pm after a rowing team accidently cut lane buoys loose.

Lara Collins, president of the Waka Ama national body Nga Kaihoe o Aotearoa, said the delay had been frustrating for the paddlers, who had came from 51 clubs around New Zealand.

"It's a real pain because we only get one day of lake closure before the event," she said.

A condensed day of junior racing took place yesterday, with missed races added to today's schedule.

Elijah, who was at the lake with the Under-13 intermediate boys team from the Porirua Aniuwaru Waka Ama Club, said the delay didn't create nerves.

The 12-year-old said he was enjoying "relaxing" ahead of racing, and issued a warning to rivals in his heat.

"We have been practising a lot. I think we have a pretty big chance of winning."

Team-mate Tem Southon, also 12, said he wouldn't be holding back either.

"We're going to go our hardest," he said.

The team members' purple mohawks, created for the event, were, according to Elijah, to "make sure people knew who we were".

Individual adult races take place on Thursday, and on Friday and Saturday the most experienced teams will be out on the water.

- © Fairfax NZ News