Media Release - Day 4 - Waka Ama Sprint Nationals 2021

20 January 

32nd Te Wananga o Aotearoa Waka Ama Sprint Nationals

4 Seasons in Day 4

Today was another massive day here at Lake Karāpiro for the 32nd Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Waka Ama Sprint Nationals. We had an incredible 97 Single Paddler Races today! Competitors racing today were between 11 and 83 years old, that’s a staggering 72-year age range in a single day’s competition! Nga mihi nui ki nga kaihoe! (huge congratulations to our paddlers for making this possible). Another highlight was having our Adaptive paddlers take to the water, though all have their individual limitations, on the water, in the waka, its head-to-head and as full out

The King Whanau – Nyree, Dave, Rose and Tupu King all raced, and all left with medals!

Tupu is one of our countries best paddlers, today his mum (Nyree), dad (Dave) and sister (Rose) all raced, and all won medals. Another highlight was Horouta taking out the Premier Open Women’s Division with a clean sweep. Akaysia Williams with the gold, Cory Campbell with silver and Rose King taking home the bronze. Impressive feat! We had the Sani Squad on-site again helping to keep us all safe and COVID free, we’re lucky to have them for another day tomorrow before they head off to Raglans ‘Sound Splash’ music festival. Great work keeping Summer Unstoppable!

Tomorrow we have 6 Paddler races (W6), 12 Paddler Double hulled races (W12) and Corporate races featuring 14 corporate teams.

Tomorrow – W6 W12 & Corporate races 250, 500, 1000m races

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