It’s going to be our biggest year, with over 60 teams entered, and 110 races!

IMPORTANT: In order to get through the programme on Saturday, racing will commence at 8.30am. This means all teams and paddlers in the early races should be on site at 7.30am. Do plan your travel, from Wellington to Masterton is about at least 1:30hrs by car.

Here some key documents for race day:

• Race schedule
• Lane draw

Note that we will track canoes, which means you can view all racing live at http://www.yacht-bot.com/races/11795. Canoes will be identified only by their numbers, so keep an eye on the estimated start times for each race and the live results to keep track of who is on the water.

We will also have all results available live at http://www.liveresults.co.nz (this is in addition to the printed results, as they become available, at the information desk).

For further information, click here.

As per rule 21.7 in the Waka Ama NZ race rules, W12 crews at Nationals can be made up of competitors from up to two clubs from the same region, but only in the following divisions:

This rule only applies where a club does not have sufficient paddlers to form their own, stand-alone, W12 crews in those age categories.  A W12 crew made up of two clubs may be a combination of any number of paddlers from those two clubs. They must satisfy all other rules as specified in the race rules.

If your club wishes to combine with another club in the above divisions, please take note of the following:

• The proposed entry will need to be sent to hoetonga@gmail.com by no later than Thursday 8 December. This will ensure that Hoe Tonga has sufficient time to make the entries to meet the Waka Ama NZ timeframes.
• Entries are to be submitted only by an executive officer of one of the clubs. In the email the relevant executive officer must provide confirmation that (i) both clubs agree on the entry and its name (copy in other relevant executive officers), and (ii) that the entry has been checked by both clubs to comply with relevant rules.
• Paddler names must be submitted to hoetonga@gmail.com no later than 31 December 2016. Hoe Tonga will not chase up unfilled rosters – relevant late fees from Waka Ama NZ will be charged directly to clubs. It is the club’s responsibility to inform Hoe Tonga of the roster, or of any changes to the roster. Paddler names should not be submitted until all paddlers have been checked by the clubs as being on the Waka Ama NZ membership database for their club.

Hoe Tonga will be offering W12 races at this year’s Regional Sprint Champs, held in Masterton on 3-4 December.

They will be initially offered in three divisions: Intermediate, J16 and Premier. Hoe Tonga invites clubs to enter their teams. If clubs are interested to enter other divisions, then in the first instance we would like to have them race in any of the divisions noted above (eg J19 and Masters can race in Premier; Midget teams can race under Intermediate).

W12 races will be raced last on Saturday, 3 December, ie following the completion of the W6 races over 500m and 1500m on that day (this is for logistical reasons, as it involves utilising the same canoes used for the 500m and 1500m races).

For more information on the Hoe Tonga Sprint Champs, go to https://hoetonga.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/regionals-2016-in-masterton-henley-lake/.

The following sets out the process for Hoe Tonga’s selection of the regional W12 that will compete at Nationals 2017. The process applies to both men and women.

Selection will be done by a selector (to be appointed by the Hoe Tonga Board in due course) based on the following:

Step 1: The six paddlers in the W6 that wins the respective open 500m event gain a spot.

Step 2: Selection of the other paddlers will be based on the following:

• Next 6 fastest times in 250 Dash race (across both J19 and Open dash races).
• If there are still places to be filled (eg due to an insufficient number of paddlers competing in the dash events), additional paddlers will be selected based on the fastest times in the W1 500m event  (across J19, Open and Master events)
• If there are still places to be filled, then the decision for the selection of additional paddler(s) will be made by the selector based on any other relevant information.

Role of the selector:

The selector’s role is to select paddlers based on the above process. As it is unlikely that there will be opportunities for the selected team to train together, and the regional W12 race at Nationals is a straight final, the role does not automatically include a coaching capacity (unless otherwise mutually agreed between selected paddlers and the selector). The selector may appoint a team captain, whose role will be to organise the team on race day.

Uniforms:

Hoe Tonga is working towards each paddler receiving a race shirt for this event at Nationals 2017.

A reminder that entries close on 30 August, don’t miss out. You have to be at the race in order to win spot prizes, thanks to our sponsors as shown below. A prize giving will take place after racing is finished, and the series winners will receive trophies.

Racing can be viewed live:

• Novice and Junior race
• Senior race

Click here to download the panui for Race 3 of the series.

For more detail on the series, and to see who has entered, click here.

A small turn out but the hardy ones are undeterred. A beautiful day, with a 15-20knot Northerly at Petone.

The course was the same as for Race 2, the wind was similar but the tide may have been slightly different.

Click here for the results: Ice Water Paddler Series 2016 – Results.