New Bay club among medal winners at nationals
"Pretty good for a club less than 12 months old."
This was a compliment mentioned regularly among the Hawke's Bay contingent at the Lake Karapiro-hosted Te Wananga o Aotearoa Waka Ama Sprints Nationals which ended on Sunday. They were referring to the Takitimu Outrigger Canoe Club which was established in February last year.
The club, which is based at Meeanee Quay adjacent to the Hawke's Bay Sea Scouts and Hawke's Bay Coast Guard boasts 40 members and an executive committee of eight. Five teams, J19 men, J19 women, Masters men, Senior Masters men and Golden Masters men, represented the club at nationals.
"We were rapt to have that many. Then when we made five finals and claimed two bronze medals in our maiden year ... well we couldn't be happier," club chairman Quentin Crawford said.
Long-serving Hastings Boys' High School teacher Crawford has experienced national title success in a variety of codes and his club captain, former Hawke's Bay Unicorns rugby league representative Rimo Hunuhunu, regularly upstaged more established opponents during his Lion Red Cup career in the mid 1990s.
So yours truly wasn't surprised when news of the club's success was relayed back to the Bay.
The club's Golden Masters men's crew of Karl Schroder, Chris Divine, Paul Gurran, Bayden Wilson, Chris Brownlie and Henry Heather (pictured above left to right) won bronze medals in their W6 1000m and 500m finals. The fact there were 18 crews in their division added to the significance of their feats.
The club's senior masters crew (pictured left to right below) long-serving Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby team physio Mark Nicol, Louie Papuni, Murray Linnell (obscured) and Ant Lee finished sixth in their final.
Before the nationals the club paddled at the Cambridge to Hamilton race, the Mount Maunganui distance race and several Hawke's Bay regatta.
Crawford pointed out the club is training crews to compete at the national secondary champs at Lake Karapiro in March and the Picton-hosted Long Distance Nationals in April.
"We're looking at increasing membership and working on establishing an open women's team, master women's team and another J19 men's team as well as boosting the Masters men, Senior Masters men and Golden Masters men's numbers," Crawford explained.
"We're also working closely with Innov8 Trust to provide the outrigger canoe experience to members of the club's community," Crawford added.
