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Download AudioThe first Manu World Championships will be held at the Viaduct Harbour in March, giving intending competitors all summer to practice their bombs.
Organiser Scott Rice says he wants to share the fun he experienced as a kid, popping manu with friends off wharves and dive boards.
A team at the Auckland University of Technology is developing software and systems to help judge the competition.
“The qualifying events will be judged on the person’s splash, height and volume. So we’re working with some really fantastically talented people at AUT on a software we’re calling Manutech, which will capture their manu on video. And then we’ll freeze frame and measure the size of the splash and the volume of the splash so make sure it’s nice and we’ve got a transparent way of measuring and scoring people’s bombs,” he says.
Regional competitions will be held in Tāmaki Makaurau, Kirirkiriroa, Pōneke and Ōtautahi from January to March, with the final on March 9.
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