World Elite Championship Racing

The first 2 days of the event were dedicated to the IVF  Elite World Championships. Which saw Countries compete against each other for World Championship honors.

New Zealand was represented by 1 mens team, 1 womens team and 1 Mens and Women Junior 19 Development team.

The competition was fierce! And as the crews lined up for the first time ever in this new competition, Country vs Country format, the favourites were clearly the world dominant Tahitians. However in a display of formidable paddling,  New Zealand showed that the Tahitians are beatable.

The New Zealand Women's Elite team, expertly coached by Kiwi Campbell carried out a clean sweep, winning all 3 womens events, V6 500m, V6 1500m and V12 500m, claiming 3 Gold Medals  in a show of class and dominance.

The Junior Development women’s team, Coached by Matahi Brightwell, also aced the field with a clean sweep of their events V6 500m and V6 1000M. In the 500m final they finished 7 seconds ahead of 2^nd place Tahiti and 12 seconds ahead of 2^nd Place Tahiti in the 1000m event.

In the Men’s Elite events the Tahitians have not lost a championship final since 2002 but the New Zealand Elite and Junior Men pushed the Tahitians to thier first silver medal in 14 years.

The Junior Men’s Development team coached by Paul Roozendaal, finished 2^nd in the V6 1000m and 3^rd in the V6 500m collecting a Silver and Bronze medal respectively.

The New Zealand Elite mens team Coached by Mike Nuku,  claimed a bronze 3^rd place in the V6 1500m and then toppled the Tahitians at their national sport in the V6 500m with a time of 1:51.86. almost 2 seconds faster that their Tahitian 2^nd place getters.

New Zealand topped the medal tally in the first IVF World Elite World Championships - an outstanding achievement across all 4 national teams. 

IVF World Elite Championships Medal Tally

Link to Elite Paddler Profiles:

Elite Women               http://www.wakaama.co.nz/pages/read/1004172

Elite Men                    http://www.wakaama.co.nz/pages/read/1004168

Development Women ​http://www.wakaama.co.nz/pages/read/1004177 

Development Men   http://www.wakaama.co.nz/pages/read/1004184

Para Va’a at the IVF Va’a World Sprint Champs 2016

This was the first year an adaptive Va’a team from Aotearoa has been classified to compete at the IVF Va’a World Sprint Championships 8 paddlers and 6 support crew members traveled to the Sunshine Coast with the hope of competing against their adaptive paddling peers. Lead by the experienced Roni Nuku, the New Zealand Para Va’a team was classified in the days leading up to the competition (some being re-classified into different divisions), this raised the excitement from the get go with the Para Va’a racing held on the first two days of competition alongside the elite races.

Our first Para Race of the event was the Para Women (VL3) V1 500m straight final. Amy Jane (AJ) MacDonald from Haeata Ocean Sports clinched our first gold medal! This was the first time AJ and her coach Roni had paddled in a V1 race with Roni directing AJ down the course due to AJ’s vision impairment – ka mau te wehi!

This was followed by George Thomas winning his heat in convincing style in the Para Men (VL2) V1 500m.  George was just pipped (by less than a second) in the final from Mathew Newman (AUS), placing George second and receiving our first silver medal at the event.

Brendon Kete competed in the Para Men (VL3) - V1 500, placing 4^th in his heat. The final race of the day saw the first race for our V6 Para Va’a team - Haeata Ocean Sports Para. They were placed 3^rd in the final but unfortunately missing out on a medal due to disqualification, the excitement increased for day 2 of racing!

Day 2 started fantastically with George Thomas getting one over his Aussie rival Mathew Newman in the Para Men (VL2) - V1 250. Mathew came back strong in the final, with George winning silver once again, and Gregory Crouse from California taking home the bronze.

In the Para Mixed - V6 1000 St. Final, our new Para Va’a Team raced to a third placing, but unfortunately were disqualified – that didn’t stop the smiles and high fives after the race!

The day and Para events were finished off in style with AJ Macdonald winning silver in the Para Women (VL3) - V1 250, and Jo Pikia from Aotearoa winning silver in the Para Women (VL2) - V1 250.

A massive mihi to all of the paddlers, their whānau, support crew and coaches, it was an inspiration to watch and be a part of.

If you would like more information about Para Va’a please contact [email protected]

IVF Club World Championship

New Zealand topped the medal tally in the IVF World Club Championship and had many stand out performances. It was our best performance overall at any world Sprint Championships since we attended our first event in 1988. A total of 555 paddlers represented their club and country and New Zealand was a force to reckoned with on the water. The new World Club Championship format provided an unique opportunity for paddlers to represent their clubs on a world stage.

Gold Medals we won by the following Clubs

See attached World Club Medal Tally

V1 Individual Events

The V1 Finals (Not including Para)  was back to back excitement and New Zealand featured in every final.

From the 42 V1 medals that were up for grabs (Gold, Silver and Bronze) Aotearoa New Zealand brought home 22 of those medals!

Some of the highlights include:

-          Taking a clean sweep in the following divisions:

•           Junior 16 Women
•           Junior 19 Women
•           Master 40 Men
•           Master 40 Women

-          Our first Master Women 70 V1 medal – Sara Holderness – Silver

Gold Medal V1 Performances

J16W -Tia Akuranga (World Record)  - Gisborne
J19W -Akayshia Williams (World Record) - Gisborne
Master 40W - Nicky Kingi (World Record) Bay of Plenty
Master 40M - Richard Pehi - Whangarei 
Master 50W - Nyree King (World Record) - Northland

Recording breaking times and Gold Medal performances – see attached 

Congratulations to all the paddlers, coaches, managers and whānau, this campaign would not have been possible or a success without each and every one of you, whether on the water or behind the scenes.  

We would also like to thank the Australian Outrigger Canoe Racing Association (AOCRA) and their team of Volunteers and Officials for a well organised and most enjoyable event.

In Summary here are a few stats and numbers:

29: the number of Clubs that took part from New Zealand

59: the number of Club teams that took part from New Zealand

79: the number of medals won by New Zealand

30: the number of Golds won by New Zealand

27: the Number of Silver won by New Zealand 

22: the number of Bronze won by New Zealand

22: the number of V1 Medals Won by New Zealand

9:   the number of World Records set by New Zealand 

555 the number of New Zealand Paddlers a the event 

1:   New Zealand’s current ranking in the World

100% -  the support we felt from everyone! 

765 - days until the 2018 IVF World Elite and Club Sprint Championships in Tahiti

Photo Credit: Va'a News Tahiti and Te Kaea