This is an oarsome twist to canoeing
FOR Maria Pokia, outrigging is more than just a sport.
Pokia first discovered the “challenging” water sport 15 years ago, while she was recovering from a car accident in Melbourne.
“I’m a neuro patient and the surgeon wanted to try to get me back into a sport,” she said.
“He suggested outrigging or kayaking, so I gave that a go.
“Most people that come into the sport are actually injured from other sports.
“Whether they have a back injury or a leg injury, they can use other muscle groups, so it caters to everybody.”
After moving to Cairns a few years later, Pokia continued in the sport and went on to achieve national success as an Australian OC1 champion.
In the lead-up to this weekend’s ninth Great Barrier Reef Ocean Challenge, Pokia has been coaching the women’s crew at the Hekili Outrigger Canoe Club.
The club will tomorrow host the National Changeover Titles as part of the event.
“They’ve been training pretty well,” Pokia said. “They did a race a couple of months ago, in April, at Magnetic Island and they won that, so now they’re racing for the national title.”
But, what exactly is changeover?
For the uninitiated, it’s a unique format of outrigger canoeing where a six-person crew can call on four additional reserves to rotate in and out of the canoe for the duration of the race.
This is in stark contrast to paddling ‘iron’, which means to do the entire 45km course without having any relief changes from reserve paddlers.
While changeover sounds relatively simple, there is one catch – the canoe does not stop at all during the race.
“When you’re doing a changeover race, each crew needs to have a support boat to help with picking up and dropping off the crew during the change,” Pokia said.
“The canoe doesn’t stop, so they have to jump in and out while it’s moving forward.”
She said each member of a changeover crew will be called on to jump in and out of a moving canoe at least four times.
While aboard, the reserves will rest, rehydrate and take on energy before being dispatched back into the ocean at the next “change”.
“What brings everybody together is the team effort,” Pokia said.
“Everyone is working as one unit, one rhythm, and consistently staying with it right until the end.
“It’s fun and you can do it as a family.”
She said the Hekili club was proud to continue the tradition of changeover in the region.
“It has been a number of years since it has been offered at a competitive level in North Queensland,” she said.
“There is nothing like GBROC on the sporting calendar. The epic course along the stunning stretch of coastline between Cairns and Port Douglas is why this race continues to attract competitors from around Australia to compete in our backyard.”
More than 100 competitors are expected to hit the water over the weekend to take on the ultimate test of teamwork, synchronisation, endurance, discipline and control. Five crews will be battling it out for national changeover glory, while other single and double craft have elected to paddle the course ‘iron’.
The field includes paddlers from interstate as well as from Mission Beach, Coconuts, Cairns, Port Douglas and Torres Strait.
The action gets underway from Yorkeys Knob tomorrow morning, with paddlers embarking on a 45km, downwind “ride of their lives”, all the way to Port Douglas’s Four Mile Beach.
The blessing of the fleet will take place at 8am, before the racing begins, on the beach at Yorkeys Knob.
If the wind’s up and swell is favourable, the first canoes are expected to arrive at Four Mile Beach in three to four hours.
The Great Barrier Reef Ocean Challenge continues on Sunday with the “Mini G” event.
As the names suggests, the Mini G offers a shorter, 19km course from Cairns Marlin Marina to Yorkeys Knob.