Category Archives: Event results

W1 Quota Rankings & Regional Sprints Results

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Thank you for your patience while we work through the W1 entries for our region. These are now available to view on the WANZ event page – 2026 Sprint Nationals – Waka Ama NZ.

The final results from all W6 & W1 races of the 2025 Hoe Tonga Regional Sprint Championships are linked below

2025 Regional Sprints Results – All Days

The Hoe Tonga W1 500m Quota rankings for the 2026 Sprint Nationals are linked below

W1 Quota Rankings – 2026 Sprint Nationals

If your club members have made the Quota but are unable to attend the 2026 Sprint Nationals, please inform us asap at hoetonga@gmail.com so we can offer this place to those on the waitlist. 

The following quota spots were unfilled at the recent Hoe Tonga Regionals due to no entries being received or ineligible paddlers. Therefore, we are requesting nominations from clubs to fill these spots. The age divisions available are:

  • J19 Men 
  • J19 Women
  • Open 23 Men 
  • Open 23 Women
  • Premier Men 
  • Premier Women 
  • Senior Master Women
  • Golden Master Men  
  • Master Men 70
  • Master Women 70
  • Master Men 75
  • Master Women 75 
  • Master Men 80
  • Master Women 80  

All nominations must be received by midnight, Monday 15th December for the Board to consider selection.

Further to this, we have not received any Adaptive paddler entries for Nationals. If your club has any Adaptive paddlers who would like to compete, please send us their name and intended race/s so we can add them to the region’s entries. 

If you have any pātai, tēnā whakamōhio mai.

Ngā mihi nui

Twin Harbours Race Summary

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☀️🌊 Mana Pasifika Outrigger Canoe Club would like to thank all clubs with teams participating in the Twin Harbours race on Saturday 23 August 2025 at Ngāti Toa Domain.

We would also like to thank the support crews in safety boats on the water, those preparing kai in the kitchen, taking times on the sideline, doing safety checks and generally helping out. We had a successful race day because of the paddlers and support people involved, even the coastguard came out to support the morning racing.

We were blessed with a fabulous day for this race, 4 knot easterly winds and an incoming high tide. Both the short and long races started at 0900 with the last 17km crew crossing the line in a modest time of 1:34:58:03.

Big thanks to Thomas for opening and closing our regatta, remembering our waka mates who have passed on, specifically Steve Kenny who was a big part of the Ngati Toa waka scene and always advocating for hauora.

Nō mātou o Hoe Tonga – Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou o Mana Pasifika Outrigger Canoe Club for hosting the Twin Harbours Race i tēnei ata! ☀️🌊

Final race results along with additional photos taken today can be found on the clubs’ website https://www.sporty.co.nz/manapasifika/newsarticle/156807…

2025 Long Distance Nationals Hosted by Hoe Tonga!

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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! 🌊🌊🌊

2025 Regional Secondary School Sprints Returns to Porirua

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After a few years based at Lake Henley in Masterton, the Secondary School Regionals returned to Onepoto Domain, Porirua. Rangatahi powered through the water and no amount of wind or rain was stopping their waka from racing!

Interested in the final placings of the day? Have a look at the 2025 Race Results here.

We want to take this time to thank everyone who helped to make this day possible, especially with the change in venue.

Ka nui te mihi ki a Ngati Toa Rangatira, Porirua City Council, Porirua Rowing Club, Greater Wellington Harbour Masters Office, Titahi Bay Intermediate and Tai Paddles for your tautoko.

Ngā mihi David Fa’atafa and the team at College Sport Wellington for supplying us with equipment and coordinating all schools’ registration details within the Hoe Tonga region.

Huge thank you to our local Hoe Tonga clubs Ōtaki Waka Hoe, Hikoikoi Waka Club, Porirua Canoe Kayak Club Inc, Hawaikinui Tuarua Waka Ama and TOA Waka Ama Club for providing your waka so the rangatahi could get out on the water!

To all of the whānau, coaches, managers and kaiako that volunteered your time in the loading bay or anywhere else, thank you so much.

Ā, he mihi whakamutunga tēnei to the Hoe Tonga Board for all of their mahi organising and running the whakataetae. Kei runga noa atu koutou!

A big congratulations goes out to the following:

  • Wellington High School who were awarded the Hoe Tonga School Spirit Taonga
  • Manukura who were awarded the Hoe Tonga School Excellence Taonga
  • Wainuiomata High School who won some Waka Ama NZ 2025 Nationals Pōtae
  • Hawaiki Hodges-Taikato who won the Tai Paddles Voucher Giveaway

Finally, we would like to wish the best of luck to all of our competitors heading away to the Secondary Schools Nationals in a couple of weeks. Karawhiua koutou mā!

Hoe Tonga Paddler Series 2018 Final Results

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Congratulations to all the teams that competed in Whanganui over the weekend and throughout the series. Our series continues to grow and become more competitive and it is great to see.

Special Congratulations goes out to our winning teams of the series.

For our Junior Short Course we have two teams winning taking first equal:           Whitirea J16 Men TOA Waka Ama and Tamatea Otaikokako J19 Mixed

Open Short Course Champions 2018: Waitatapia Open Women Otaki Waka Hoe

Long Course Champions 2018: Motungangara Open Men Otaki Waka Hoe

Once again we presented “He Taonga Kotahitanga”. This trophy is awarded to the club from the Hoe Tonga region that accumulates the most points, based on its best three teams. This year we have a new winner with this award being presented to Otaki Waka Hoe.

For a full Overview of the results follow the link below and good luck to all the teams competing at Long Distance National 2018.

Final Results Here

Results from Race 1 – Hoe Tonga Series 2018

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After some unusually cold weather, finally a great day for racing. An excellent turn-out with 22 teams hitting the water. Surprisingly, there were no novice teams this time. This leaves the novice trophy up for grabs, so go on, rustle up your work mates and friends.

Thanks again to Hawaiki Nui Waka Ama for hosting this event.

Click here to download the results for Race 1.

The next race coming up is the Matariki Harbour Challenge on 23 June. Find out more here.

Wellington Region Secondary Schools Waka Ama Sprint Champs 2018 Results

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Kia ora tatou

Great to see our region’s top secondary schools talent going head to head at this year’s regional sprint champs. Awesome to see teams lift the standard of racing as well.

A big thanks to all volunteers, sponsors, clubs and schools for their help to make the day happen.

Results are available for download here.

Photos and more will be uploaded to Hoe Tonga’s Facebook Page

Regionals 2017 round-up and results

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And this was it for 2017. Last year’s event was our biggest yet, but 2017 topped it again, with close to 130 races and about 500 paddlers! We need more lanes…

A massive thank you to all officials, helpers and supporters that made this event possible. More than ever before, many of them pulled big hours to make this event happen. In the week leading up to the event, and despite water quality being better than ever before, the lake experienced excessive weed growth, likely due to the very warm weather over many weeks. Many helpers spend days clearing the lake!

Here a list of key officials and helpers:

  • Event organisation: Joern Scherzer, Gaylene Sciascia
  • Race course set-up, venue preparation and infrastructure: Paddy, Kath and the wider team from Wairarapa WACC; generator provided by Lawrence
  • W6 provision and transport: Porirua Canoe Kayak Club, Otaki Waka Hoe, Hawaiki Nui Waka Ama club
  • Finish line officials: Marinna, Petra & Andy Melville, Ani Suitauloa, Roimata Baker, Te Ara Herewini Smiler, Mereana Putaka, and others
  • Start line officials: James Sadler, Lawrence Ammunson-Fyall, Maaike Van Aalst
  • Flag boat officials: Thomas Tawhiri, Piki Emery, Jodie Sommerville
  • Back-up support boat: John Hodges and others
  • Support boat provision: Matt Archer & Mana Kayak Racing Club
  • Loading Bay: Karmen Wallace, and various other helpers to bail from Wairarapa WACC, Toa, PCKC, and Otaki
  • Marshalling/Announcer: Shanara Wallace
  • Registration officials, runner: Pania Haruru, Tam Tanirau, Rodney
  • Race director: Dennis Ngatai & Joern Scherzer
  • W1 weigh-in: Tia Tuuta, Trini Ropata, and others
  • IT pre-event support: Alex Ryder

There are many more, even if not specifically listed above!

Results

Click here to download the full results.

Photos are yet to come. In the next few days please check Hoe Tonga’s facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Hoetonga/ 

Club trophies

The Club Excellence Award changed hands for the first time in 5 years, this year it was won by Otaki Waka Hoe, with Porirua Canoe Kayak Club in second, and Toa Waka Ama in third.

For the James Hapeta Club Spirit Award, Hoe Tonga implemented a revised approach for selecting a winner. Up to five points were awarded in each of four categories: (1) Ratio of club volunteers vs club entries, as at one week out from the event; (2) whether a club had complete team rosters at the deadlines and/or had late changes to their roster; (3) whether teams were wearing correct uniforms; and (4) attitude, who is going the extra mile over the two race days. The latter two categories were judged by all the key volunteers at the various official stations. Congratulations to Hikoikoi Waka Club for taking out this year’s club spirit award. Hawaikinui Waka Ama Club and Wairarapa Waka Ama Canoe Club were a very close second and third.