New Zealand’s Women’s Waka Ama team ready to take on the world in Samoa

New Zealand’s Women’s Waka Ama team.
Photo: RNZ / Ashleigh McCaull

New Zealand’s Women’s Waka Ama team have come together this Matariki to cast their sights forward to competing in the World Long Distance Championship next month in Samoa.

The impact of Cyclone Gabrielle caused the team’s campaign to start later than usual, but they remain determined to fight their way onto the podium.

The women’s team geared up for their last training session together as a squad at Porirua’s Titahi Bay Boating Club. Ngatuire Hapi, 19, travelled from Rotorua and will represent Aotearoa for the first time in long distance.

She represented the country for the first time last year in London for the Waka Ama World Sprint Championships, and won several gold medals.

She said changing her technique for long distance has been challenging.

“There’s no space for lack of experience ’cause in sprints you can just get away with being fit ’cause you’re always paddling on flat water mostly, but in the ocean you can’t really hide that with fitness, you need experience as well.”

The team will be paddling 24 kilometres, which can take between two to three hours to complete, depending on the conditions. Hapi said the team came up with different strategies to help them endure.

“We have a few cues that we use as a team and they’re made up just for this team, so we know exactly what we want to be doing, what type of power we want to be putting into our stroke, the length of the stroke – and I think that’s something we want to perfect before we head over to Samoa,” Hapi said.

Marianna Hodges.
Photo: RNZ / Ashleigh McCaull

The majority of the team are mothers, such as Marianna Hodges, who has three kids – including an eight-month-old.

She said when it came to her training she felt like she was playing catch-up because she had been busy looking after her baby.

“Looking after my tinana and letting it heal, so most of my training has been on the water and a lot of core development because I don’t have all day to train on just mummy. So mummy’s got about an hour, two hours a day, so I’ve got to be really particular with what I work on.”

She was part of the Porirua Canoe Kayak Club, which made this last training special for her to come back and reconnect with her moana. This will be her third time competing at a long distance world championships.

As she looked up to Hiwa-i-te-rangi – the star that represented hopes and aspirations – she wanted the team to master their game plan.

New Zealand’s Women’s Waka Ama team prepare for the world champs in Samoa.
Photo: RNZ / Ashleigh McCaull

“I just want us girls to really finalise our strategies, really know our jobs and what we want to deliver in the race which is quite a lot but I know that once we do that, we’ll be ready,” Hodges said.

This year’s campaign started later than usual because the teams coach Roni Nuku’s Omahu home was damaged in Cyclone Gabrielle in Hastings. But despite the water reaching waist-high levels, she still turned up to coach.

“That’s the beauty about them, they’ve been so patient,” Nuku said. “We were supposed to start earlier but didn’t have the capacity to, even the brain space it was quite hard at the beginning. These ladies have been amazing, they’re just so patient with me and with the campaign itself but you know they want more and unfortunately we haven’t been able to do more. They’re going to give it their best.”

Despite some sadness and obstacles she and other team members have faced, they were looking forward to Pōhutukawa – the star in the cluster which represented loved ones who had passed.

She hoped they could help guide the team’s waka to victory.

“They inspire our wāhine. I think that’s one of the driving forces, not only their tamariki and their immediate whanau but the ones who are kua wehe ki te pō, those are just as important and when we remember them why we’re doing this and how proud they’ll be of us.”

The competition kicks off on 10 August.