with very light winds and under grey overcast skies for the small, but quality field that included four visiting Australian crews from Queensland and New South Wales.

There was plenty of anticaption, that under the conditions, a close finish could be in the offering. Once again, 2004 National 500 metre sprint champions Team Goodyear from the Te Au Rere waka ama club proved they are more than capable of prevailing in the longer version of waka ama. The Rotorua based team covered the 74 km in 4 hrs 56 min 52 sec, 3 mins 54, sec. ahead of the 2nd placed team, Kotahi Team West from the Waitakere club in Auckland.

Taking advantage of a heavy roll from a ferry leaving the Auckland waterfront before compass dolphin, Team Goodyear took full advantage, gaining at least a 2 min lead that saw them well on the way to maintaining an advantage to which they were to never relinguish.The only stage that they were threatened was around the top of the Rakino channel where only 3 min covered the 1st three teams that included the 3rd placed Herbert's on tour from the Nga Hoe Horo club in Northland. But some great course management, along with some slick changes saw Team Goodyear home.

In the women's division, the combination of Team Synergy and Kiwi Kaihoe from the Manukau and Mareikura clubs respectively with a winning time of 5 hrs.33min.03 secs had too much in hand for their four other rivals. Such was the dominance of this years women's winners, that the second placed team Pineula, finished around 25 mins later in a time of 5 hrs,58 min,50 sec. In 3rd place was the best of the Australian teams in terms of picking up a placing, Sydney Warratahs, finishing 21 seconds behind Pineula.

In the master mens event, Grizzles from the Taniwha club in Auckland with a time of 5 hrs 24 min 41 sec outlasted Te Hao from Te Toki club in the Waikato region. Mixed vegetables from the Akarana club in Auckland took out the mixed division. One of the features of the marathon was to sample the paddling skills of Kanu Culture magazine publisher and editor Steve West who was aboard the 4th placed Open means team Kanu Culture from Australia.

Steve West offered a few insights into the marathon, suggesting that while the event had a whole heap of potential, promotion of the event, along with a major sponsor, more information about the event, which could should be put on waka ama web sites world wide especially in Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia and the south pacific region.

Steve also inferred that whilst there was a fascination, with sprint racing in New Zealand, the Hauraki Hoe Marathon must be looked on as New Zealand's premier event, but if all these factors were to happen, with many more crews attending, safety and organisation were the first components to be put in place. As my own observations started to settle in, as the curtain came down on the 14th Hauraki Hoe Marathon I found myself nodding in approval at the wisdom of widely travelled paddler and publisher.

Article by Steven Harris