Kua mutu ā mātou mahi mō te whakataetae pae tawhiti ā-motu!

After weeks of planning, late-night hui and a tiny bit of stress our mahi as hosts of the Waka Ama Long Distance Nationals 2025 is now complete ✅

On the 24th of April we welcomed our waka ama whānau from across the motu to the Hoe Tonga region with a pōwhiri at Ngāti Toa Domain, supported by te iwi o Ngāti Toa Rangatira, the Porirua City Council, Te Toki Voyaging Trust – Waka Hourua and wakaama NZ 🫱🏾‍🫲🏽

1067 kaihoe from 59 clubs across Aotearoa registered to take part in this national qualifying event, with 3 days of racing long distances of 8km, 16 km, and 24km to secure a place to compete at the IVF Va’a World Distance Championships 2025 held in Brazil in August! 🇧🇷

Luckily the atua heard our karakia and blessed us with three days of beautiful weather and prime paddling conditions for the event! ☀️

Now our manuhiri understand the classic saying “you can’t beat Welly on a good day” (don’t worry, we saved the wildest windiest Wellington weather for the days that followed the LDNs ⛈ you’re welcome).

You can find the final results for all six races here🔗https://www.webscorer.com/wakaamanz?pg=results

Massive congratulations to those that placed and huge thanks to everyone who came along and got involved with the event! 🌟

E kīia nei te kōrero, he aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.

Nā reira me mihi ka tika ki a koutou katoa kua haere ki tō mātou nei rohe o Te Whanganui ā Tara mō tēnei kaupapa motuhake mō te waka ama.

Ngā mihi whakawhetai hoki ki ngā kaitūao mō tō mahi me tō āwhina ki a mātou o Hoe Tonga ki te whakahaere i tēnei whakataetae, ngā pākihi kua tautokotia i a mātou me te whānau o Waka Ama NZ. Tēnā koutou katoa 💛

Finally, we’d like to acknowledge our Hoe Tonga board and whānau. Tēnā rawa atu to our Race Director James Sadler and event leads Anita Taggart, Ani Suitauloa, Chris Fox, Jasmine Kaa, Marinna Millanta-Lowrey, Matai Te Kere, Ria Millan, Selena Katene and Thomas Tawhiri who all provided great leadership not only during the buildup to LDN’s but also over the 3 days💛

Mā mua ka kite a muri, mā muri ka ora a mua.

It’s been 12 years since Hoe Tonga has hosted this event, so we’d love to get your whakaaro on the 2025 Long Distance Nationals! If you haven’t already, please share your opinion here 🔗 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/588ZVVF

Hei whakakapi, ko te tūmanako he mīharo rawa te wheako me te whakataetae hoki, ā, he haumaru te hokingā atu ki te kāinga. We hope everyone had an awesome experience at this years’ competition and had a safe return home.

Nā mātou o Hoe Tonga Pacifica Waka Ama Association me ngā karapu o tēnei rohe, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

Waka ama – mā te katoa, mō ake tonu! 🌊🌊🌊