Waka get to make a splash

KELLY HODEL/Waikato Times

FAMILY ATTRACTION: As a Waka Ama doubles contest unfolds on Lake Karapiro last year, other competitors head for shade after their races.

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Lake Karapiro gets another opportunity to show off its big regatta credentials next week when the outrigger canoes of the 2010 Waka Ama Sprint Nationals hit the water.

More than 2300 canoeists will be on the lake from Tuesday for five days of competition that will see enthusiasts as young as 7, and as old as 70, take to the water.

"We've got novices to the best in the country," Lara Collins, Nga Kaihoe o Aotearoa (national Waka Ama organisation) president, said.

Involving 75 clubs from Kaitaia to Dunedin, the competition will start with two days of junior competition before individual racing takes place on Thursday and the main adult races are held on Friday and Saturday.

The event's feature races will be the 500m open men and women's races, though Ms Collins said the 1500m race, which involved complete turns every 250m, was always a crowd favourite.

"It's a really skilful thing to turn it quickly," she said.

"A good turn is like seven seconds. A bad one is 40 seconds. After a few turns, the race can become really interesting."

The event will provide top crews with a good outing ahead of May's 2010 World Championships, which will take place in New Caledonia.

Ms Collins, who expected up to 10,000 supporters to line the lake's banks during the racing, said the sport had grown hugely in the last decade, a rise she put down to the family nature of Waka Ama.

"It's fun and it's really family orientated. There's not many sports where a 7-year-old can paddle with their mum, dad and grandparents at the same event."

The Waka Ama Sprint Nationals have been held at Karapiro since 2000, and this year are the subject of delayed coverage on Maori TV.

Lake Karapiro will host the 2010 World Rowing Championships between October 31 and November 7 later this year.

- © Fairfax NZ News