Paddling for glory at waka ama regionals
Waka ama paddler Te Aue Lockington intends to glide her way to a national medal.
The 12-year-old powerhouse took first place in two individual 500-metre sprints at Lake Karapiro on Saturday, and there was a shy confidence about the team race to come.
More than 1000 paddlers from 1 central North Island teams competed over the weekend in the Te Puku o Te Ika Regional Sprint Championships.
Winners of certain categories will go on to compete in January’s Auckland qualifier for the 2018 world champs in Tahiti.
Te Aue, from Rotorua, might be too young to compete on this world stage, but she’s not fresh to the sport. She was first on the water at age seven and counts a second place in a singles race in Australia at 10 as an accomplishment.
When racing in a team, Te Aue is the engine of the boat, seated at number four. Teammate Mataatira Patu-Ngataiawhio, the steerer seated at number six, calls her ‘‘muscly’’.
It’s always a nervous moment when idle at the starting line, but Te Aue always feels ready. It’s her friends and teammates who drive her to work harder. She trains six days a week – two hours a day on school days.
There’s a competitive streak there, too.
‘‘I like winning because I want to get the medals, and my goal is to win a gold medal in New Zealand.’’
Event organiser Rebecca Boyce said waka ama is truly a community sport, with the youngest paddlers aged six and the oldest national level competitor aged 70.
The six-person teams raced again yesterday, including some world champions racing in among Te Puku o Te Ika’s teams.
Teams from as far afield as Tu¯ a¯ kau, Taranaki, the East Coast and Coromandel are part of Te Puku o Te Ika, which translates to ‘‘the belly of the fish’’.