Next week, over 1500 young kaihoe from throughout the motu and the pacifica will descend on Lake Karapiro for the annual Waka Ama Sprints competition.
Races start on Sunday, with the first three days of the six day tournament covering the rangatahi age brackets from five to 16 year olds.
Waka Ama New Zealand chief executive Lara Collins says the large rangatahi numbers brings their whānau and a positive wairua on and off the water.
“It’s fantastic. It bodes really well for the future of the sport, you know, they are the future of our ward in Waka Ama. We’ve had a couple of really tough years, more than a couple, three or four really tough years, you know, with COVID, and then all the weather events that we had in 2023. So seeing the numbers come back to what they were pre-COVID years, it’s really exciting and we can’t wait to see you know, the next 10 years and how much the sport is going to continue to grow,” she says.
All the races will be streamed online on Māori+ from Monday to Saturday.
