A big thank you to all paddlers, schools, and officials/volunteers that made it a great day. We were lucky this year that we had fantastic racing conditions, with only light to moderate Northerly winds.

Results:

• All results
• Medallists

Photos of the event are yet to come, they will be made available on this site as soon as possible.

If you have any feedback on this event, please email hoetonga@gmail.com. If any paddlers wish to continue to paddle outside their school waka ama activities, please contact any of the clubs within the Hoe Tonga region. There are also a number of racing opportunities coming up for juniors, including the W6 Paddla Series over winter, and the Regional Sprint Champs in December this year.

Certainly a mixed package today, ranging from perfect glassy conditions in the morning, to a rather brisk 25knot Southerly and rain kicking in at about 11:20am.

An on-time start at 9am, and the flat conditions in the morning meant that we got significantly ahead of the scheduled race times, at one stage up to 2.5 hours. Apologies to those that missed their races as a result of this. However, given the forecast Southerly kicking in at lunch time, organisers had no choice but to push ahead when conditions were flat to ensure the best possible race conditions, especially in the junior divisions – as advised in the panui on Friday, and again at the race briefing in the morning. It pays to be on-site early or to be in touch with your respective club representatives.

Please click here to download the results for the W1 day of the Hoe Tonga Regional Sprint Championship 2014.

Click here to view photos for the W1 day, or see the slideshow below (only works on some devices).

This year, the James Hapeta Club Spirit Award was won by Hikoikoi Waka Club. With few entries yet a significant number volunteers, they showed they are a deserving winner this year.

The Club Excellence Trophy was again won by Porirua Canoe Kayak Club. Their significant efforts in terms of coaching and paddler support is continuing to show great results. Below the final tally of points after both race days for participating clubs.

• Porirua Canoe Kayak – 163
• TOA – 88
• Te Rau o Te Rangi – 53
• Te Ringa Miti Tai Heke – 25
• Wairarapa – 21
• Hawaikinui – 14
• Tai Tonga – 7
• Hikoikoi – 5
• Mana Pasifika – 0

Lastly, but not least, a huge thank you to the large number of volunteers, without whom the Champs could not be run. Key tasks include, but are not limited to things such as planning and organising the event, maintaining and setting the race course, staffing the safety and support boats, loading bay, finish line, registration desk, setting up race infrastructure in the morning and pulling it down and cleaning up afterwards, and the list goes on. A formal thank you will follow in the next couple of weeks.

A great day for racing, follow the link below for the complete results for the W6 day of the Hoe Tonga Regional Sprint Championship 2014.

Click here to download the results for the W6 day.

Click here to view photos for the W6 day, or see the slideshow below (only works on some devices).

In addition, here the points table for the Club Excellence Trophy so far. PCKC and TOA Waka Ama are point leaders, and the final result will be decided on the W1 day this coming weekend.

• PCKC – 86
• TOA – 73
• TROTR – 34
• Wairarapa – 14
• TRMTH – 7
• Hawaikinui – 6
• Hikoikoi – 0
• Mana Pasifika – 0
• Tai Tonga – 0

Well, what a race: six leagues, six-mans, ocean racing, iron-man, downwind. Following a night of rain and almost no wind, by the time the race got under way, paddlers experienced fantastic surf race conditions, with a 15-20 knot Southerly/Southeasterly making it a great ride from Mana to Paraparaumu. It was not for the inexperienced though, the conditions were challenging, and unfortunately one team was unable to finish.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=140556

The full course distance was 37km. It included going around Mana Island (with teams pumping into the Southerly for a 5km section, but some teams were joined by a pod of dolphins on the way, so it was worth it), but once they had moved around the Southern tip of Mana Island (with one team getting all cuddly with a submerged rock), it was a straight line 30km downwind all the way to Kapiti.

In the women’s division it was a tight battle nearly all the way, with all three teams finishing within 10min of each other, with the local Team Mura Va’ine from Porirua Canoe Kayak Club taking the honours just ahead of Team Malolo from Motueka Waka Ama Club.

In the men’s division, it was a hard battle for most of the way between Team Bhutty Bros from Hei Matau Paddlers (taking an inside line) and Team Jäger from Wairarapa Waka Ama (taking and outside line), with Team Bhutty Bros coming out on top and winning the inaugural event.

Missed the action? Check out the photos above (all can be downloaded in full size via flickr), and you can also replay the race at http://www.yacht-bot.com/races/5038. We tracked 6 of the 8 teams (the women started 15min before the men), and you will notice the different lines that teams took between Mana Island and Kapiti. Whereas the teams that hung out further would have got a bit more of a push through the Cook Straight tidal stream, they also had to battle more choppy Southeasterly conditions, so there were some tradeoffs.

A big thank you to our boaties, the Mana Coast Guard, and all the other numerous helpers and shuttle drivers!

If you have any feedback on the event, please let us know at mana.ocean.challenge@gmail.com. We hope to see you all back here next year.

Results

A big thank you to all our sponsors, we had some fantastic spot prizes at the after-function.

• www.oceanoutfitters.co.nz
• www.horleys.co.nz
• www.strongarmgear.co.nz
• www.wakaessential.co.nz
• www.taipaddles.co.nz
• www.fergskayaks.co.nz

A special thanks goes to Steve Fox for his excellent photography, and for making his photos available to Hoe Tonga paddlers and supporters.

While we have your attention, please follow the link below to fill in a 5min survey about the Regionals 2013. Hoe Tonga is keen to continue improving the event, and your feedback is much appreciated.

• Click here to tell us what you think about Regionals 2013

Please click on the embedded photo stream below if you like to download the photos in their original size. Note that photos are for private use only, copyrights apply.
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=138195

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=138195

Click here to download a pdf with the results and photos.