Hoe Tonga’s AGM 2023 was held on 25 June 2024 online via ZOOM. The majority of clubs were represented, alongside former Board members and Trevor Mieklejohn, (Aukaha Project Manager, Waka Ama NZ). The annual report for 2023 was accepted, and a copy of the report is available here.

Our thanks to outgoing Board members Stacey Agnew, Pania Tauhau-Hodges, Patrick Rimene – Hoe Tonga thanks you for your support and governance.

The results of board member elections were also confirmed. Voting took place by postal vote, and 13 club submitted votes a 100% return rate – ka pai koutou!. The successful candidates were James Sadler, Ani Suitauloa, Mataiawhea Te Kere and Karl Hobman. Welcome aboard and thanks to all nominees and club representatives for engaging in this process.

The new Board will meet with our remaining Board member Anita Taggart in the near future, and elect a new chair. Please email hoetonga@gmail.com if you would like to share ideas, concerns with the Board.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our Secondary School Regional Waka Ama event this weekend. There was plenty of quality racing on display and we were pleased with the really positive vibe across the race site.

As our biggest Secondary event so far, there were some complications that happened during the day and I, Andy Hanara would like to sincerely apologise to those that were affected, we aim to do our very best we can for our paddlers and their schools. We appreciated the patience and understanding from everyone though.

We are very grateful to all the race day volunteers who gave their time and energy supporting the running of this event, without you all the day wouldn’t have been possible. It is not an easy job and we would love more help from our clubs in the future. We will do a better job to ask for assistance earlier next time.

Huge gratitude goes out to all the parents, coaches, teachers, managers and schools for your support of waka ama with your young people. We know it isn’t always easy getting the trainings, equipment and travel arranged and we really do appreciate your efforts.

Lastly, well done to all the competitors. We hope that you enjoyed the competition and look forward to seeing many of you again next year.

Congratulations to Manukura, third year in a row, winning the Excellence Award!!! and a huge well done to Wellington High School for taking home the School Sport Spirit Award.

All the best at the 2024 Secondary School Nationals.

Also please we would love to hear your feedback on the event, we can only learn and grow from it.

Ngā mihi nui

• Results
• Medalist
• Feedback

It’s looking like it is going to be bigger than last year. How good!! Our Secondary Schools Regional Champs has become a big hit over the past few years, Thanks to Henley Lake for always providing the goods. We look forward to another amazing day of racing. Our event is a great opportunity for the experience paddlers to test themselves against one another and also for our new paddlers/teams to be fearless and courageous and have a go and for teams to get a gauge, where they’re at amongst other schools. Nothing to lose, Everything to gain!!!

• Race Schedule
• Lane Draw
• Pānui (Important Read)
• Waiver Form

There will also only be Gold and Silver Medals handed out this year and the team that places 3rd, one Bronze ribbon will be given for the whole team.

In the Pānui it states what time your school is Volunteering in the loading bay, which will be in the water, marshaling waka to their designated area and helping paddlers get in their waka. You will need a spare change of clothes to change into, appropriate footwear, water bottle and sunscreen. Also a reminder to bring your waiver form with you, hand it to Registration first thing in the morning and get signed off.

Any questions email through to Hoetonga@gmail.com

Ki te hoe!!

It’s that time again whānau, Ko wai ka hua, ko wai ka tohu, ko wai ka toa!!

Last year’s event was such a success, our biggest ever Hoe Tonga event and we are definitely looking to replicate it. 🙂 We love seeing all of our rangatahi enjoying Waka Ama, enjoying paddling with their friends, creating new experiences whilst representing their school and their whānau.

Notices

• Information Pack
• Waiver Form

All schools MUST fill out there Wavier forms before the event and hand into registration. There will be no waiver forms printed off at the event. No Wavier, your team will not be racing.

College entries are through CSW link https://enternow.co.nz/csw

Year 7&8’s entries to be sent to hoetonga@gmail.com

Ngā mihi

Ngā mihi o te wā ki ngā kaihoe o te takiwa nei 

INFORMATION ABOUT W1 QUOTA!!!! 

Compared with other years, Hoe Tonga have seen a reduced number of entries for the upcoming W1 Sprints Champs on Saturday 17 December. We want to encourage paddlers to fill each division’s W1 quota.

We want to ensure our clubs and paddlers are aware of the W1 Hoe Tonga policy and selection process for the National Waka Ama Sprint Championships. We encourage paddlers interested in attending Nationals, to read the selection process. 

Secondly – We have reopened the online entries until 11.59pm Sunday 11/12/22, to try encourage more of our clubs to enter more W1 paddlers. Kia kaha mai tātou

Heoi if you withdraw your entry after the closing time then you will be charge your entry fee

If there are any questions, please let us know.

Under the Resources tab, you will find the W1 Policy for the selection and qualification criteria for National Sprint Champs. PLEASE HAVE A READ!!

What an awesome day of racing, well done to all our participating teams. Go to https://hoetonga.wordpress.com/2022/09/25/hoe-tonga-sprint-regionals-2022/ to view the results for today’s racing.

A revised draft schedule and draw for Regionals 2022 is now available at https://hoetonga.wordpress.com/2022/09/25/hoe-tonga-sprint-regionals-2022/.

Please check this carefully for your team/club, as a number of divisions had to be combined. Relevant entries are marked with the division in their team name. 

Note that any withdrawals received since the entry close-off (Sunday 27 November) still incurs the full entry fee, as per the race information provided.

Due to the lower than expected entries, we will run all W6 events on Saturday 3 December.

Summary

• Host: Hoe Tonga Pacifica Waka Ama Association
• Venue: Henley Lake, Masterton
• When:  W6/W12 on 3/4 December; W1 Saturday 17 December
• Distance: W1 250/500m; W6 500m/1000m/1500m
• Divisions: Midget to Master 70
• The event is open for paddlers/teams from outside the Hoe Tonga region. Some restrictions apply to W1.
• W6/W12 Entries closed: Wed 23 November
• W1 Entries closed: Wed 7 December
• Cost: $5 Midgets, $20 Int-J19, $30 for Senior

Documents and information

• Race Information
• W6 Entries by Event
• W6 Entries by Clubs
• W6 Schedule (revised 30/11)
• W6 Lane Draw (revised 30/11)
• W6 Results
• W1 Entries by Event
• W1 Entries by Clubs
• W1 Schedule
• W1 Lane Draw
• W1 Results

Note!

• Entries are to be done via your club and WANZ’s online system
• Entries for W1 and W6/W12 have to be done separately due to the different entry close dates
• Note: Minimum W1 weight is now 14kg (previously 16kg)
• There will be a late fee if an entry is not completed by the deadline, or if the roster has not been completed on time ($15 per entry).
• There are no refunds or fee reductions for entries that withdraw after the entry deadline.

Questions? Email hoetonga@gmail.com.