Source: Waikato Times
By REON SUDDABY - Waikato Times | Monday, 14 January 2008
Picture: MARK TAYLOR/Waikato Times

There will be plenty of muscle at Lake Karapiro this week at the Waka Ama Sprint Nationals, which start tomorrow.

The event is expected to attract up to 2500 competitors, from 45 clubs nationwide.

The junior grades, featuring competitors aged from seven to 19, will be held tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday, and single canoe racing across all grades will take place on Thursday with the remainder of the week devoted to the senior grades.

Race director Maggie Greening said the weekend was devoted to setting up lanes and organising for crowds of up to 5000 people a day who were expected at the event.

"There's a huge whanau contingent, and there's lots of families who stay for the whole five days," she said.

Waikato is represented by four clubs in the championships: Te Toki Voyaging Trust, Nga Tai Whakarongo, the Waikato Dragon Boat and Waka Ama Association, and Turangawaewae Waka Sports.

Waka ama was growing in popularity, Ms Greening said.

"There's a huge participation, the sport is growing so quickly compared to other similar sports. It's the whanau concept, I believe It's fun and ... it's a great summer sport," she said.

Hard at work and training on the lake yesterday was the Te Toki Voyaging Trust junior 16s team.

Team member Jasmine Hemopo said the team was feeling "pretty good" heading into the nationals, and had been practising hard in preparation for the racing.

"We've been training for the last four or five months, every day down at the lake," she said.

While the competition could get tense, Miss Hemopo said "one of the attractions of waka ama was its generally friendly atmosphere.

"The environment, it's fun and happy and everyone helps out."

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