The Waka Ama Sprint Nationals were held at Lake Karapiro, with a large contingent of Eastern Bay paddlers among the 4500 participating.

It was the biggest national sprint champs and in the face of strong opposition, the Whakatāne and Kawerau paddlers returned with medals, qualification to the world championships and a strong sense of achievement.

Ivan Hindmarsh from Waka Ama O Whakatāne, paddling in a W6 team named Fluffy Slippers with other paddlers from Hoe Aroha (Mount Maunganui), can call himself the golden boy after laying hands on two gold medals and bronze in the 70 years-and-older male division.

“Fluffy Slippers is a name we are proud to paddle under,” Hindmarsh said.

“The team name has been around since 2007, and a lot of New Zealand’s top paddlers have paddled under its banner.

“At least 15 men from Whakatāne have paddled under the name over the years, and it was the first club team to collect a medal at the world sprints championship in Canada in 2012.

“Once a Fluffy always a Fluffy – I’m proud of our achievement this year; bronze in the W12 with our Left Fluffy team, breaking the national title by over two seconds in the turns race and just falling short of the record in the 500 metres straight race by less than a second. Singapore is the next hurdle.”

Hindmarsh’s success is closely followed by Wayne Henry, from the same club, and Steve Monk, from Tarawera Outrigger Canoe club, paddling in the GMM 60 years-and-over division, who achieved two silver medals and one bronze.

Kaedyn Thrupp, who was strongly involved with coaching the youth teams earlier in the week, achieved a gold medal, steering the Horouta J19 Men team, Tama ki Te Rangi, towards the New Zealand championship in the W6 500m straight race.

There were also strong individual performances, with Wayne Winiata achieving silver and Tui Pukepuke bronze in their respective age divisions paddling in single, W1, canoes.

The medals were supported with appearances in the finals by Awa Thrupp, in the J16 Women Class, finishing 10th, and Max Holder, Senior Master’s Men (50 years and over), who finished eighth.  Both paddle with Tarawera Outrigger Canoe Club.

Well-known local paddler Sonia Stewart, who was paddling in the Golden Master’s Women W1 class, placed sixth in her final.

The Tarawera Sixpack Senior Master’s Men’s and Autaikura Premier Women’s teams achieved their qualifications for Singapore, reaching the finals in both race set-ups: the 500m straight race and the 1000/1500m turn races.

Both teams came home with a bronze medal; Sixpack in the W6 500m straight race and Autaikura in the W6 1500m turn race.

Greg Patterson said it was “mission accomplished” for Tarawera SixPack.

“It was a very challenging regatta. After a year out from team sprint paddling, it quickly became obvious that quality within the division had lifted, with new teams entering the fray and others making strong comebacks.

“We are very pleased to have won the bronze medal in a very tightly contested W6 500 race and a sixth finish in the W6 1000 turns race was enough to qualify for the upcoming World Sprint Champs taking place at Marina Bay, Singapore in August this year.”

Unfortunately, there were also some disappointments on the Lake. Te Wairere, a Golden Master’s Women’s team from Waka Ama O Whakatāne, who have been training and preparing intensely, did not achieve their ambitions.

But team member Rose Herewini said she was happy with the team’s performance, and valuable lessons were learned.

“At the end of the day, teamwork is the winner. We maintained our integrity and respect for each other.

“Unfortunately, Singapore is not on our radar. We are planning our racing calendar for this year. Some changes will be made – we’ll discuss this when we have our team reflection hui.”

She said all in all it was a solid campaign, although not the result they were aiming for.

“Our nationals campaign saw us go from strength to strength. We were a new team at the beginning of last year and have now completed our first nationals’ campaign together.

“Initially, we only had two races on the radar, however, we surprised ourselves and made it to two finals. Competition is tough at this level with 15 teams vying for six spots to go to worlds in Singapore this year.  

“Te Wairere went in as the ‘dark horse’ and made it in the top eight. We were stoked with our performance, especially competing against other crews who are seasoned paddlers and many have been together for several years.”

She said it was back to the drawing board now, planning their training and racing schedule for 2026.

Fellow team member Sarah Dixie said she was “super proud” of the team.

Another exceptional performance was the J16 Women team HK Kings coached by Hemi Wahapango and Kaedyn Thrupp.

With even a bigger opposition, 71 teams competing in this division, the girls made the final to finish 10th in New Zealand. Wahapango was stoked with this achievement and very proud of his girls.He said the Ruamata junior contingent had a very successful national campaign.

“From our taitamariki, intermediates and J16, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.

“We have taken some key learnings from this campaign, one being our intermediates need a lot more time on the water in the build-up.”

He is grateful to the whānau who supported their campaign and supporters The Tree House Montessori, HypeHouse/GeeOne and Mataatua Sports Trust.

They now turn their attention to the world sprints, with Kaedyn Thrupp and Wahapango having qualified with their teams, Tama Ki Te Rangi from Horouta in the junior 19 division and Pure OCC from Ruamata in the premier division

In Whakatāne and Kawerau, thanks also goes to Steve Monk, Matariki Turuwhenua, Emma Thomas, Sonia Stewart, Rose Herewini, Te Whaeoranga Smallman, Kahlea McCaull and Peter Minten, who provided significant contribution to the nationals campaign.