Tahitian paddlers tops at Hilo
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
HILO — Canoe paddlers from Tahiti will return home with a sense of relief and 57 total medals from the International Va'a Federation (IVF) World Sprints.
Justifying its financial backing from the Tahitian government, Tahiti dominated the week-long event at Hilo Bay, winning gold medals in 27 of the 44 divisions.
"We brought over 200 paddlers on this trip, and the government paid for half of it," said Gordon Barff, manager of Team Tahiti. "We knew we couldn't go back home unless we had something to show for it, and I think we did our part of the contract."
More than 1,800 paddlers from around the world participated in the event. The World Sprints has been held at a different site around the world every two years since 1984. This was the second time it was held in Hawai'i (Honolulu hosted in 1988).
"This is our national sport, so we put a lot of hard work into this," Barff said. "In Tahiti, paddling is a very serious sport."
The Tahitians did some serious butt-kicking during yesterday's finals.
More than 20 countries/regions participated in the event, but only seven won medals. Tahiti, Hawai'i (which is recognized as its own region by the IVF) and New Zealand combined to win 123 of the 132 total medals.
Hawai'i placed second to Tahiti with 39 total medals, including nine gold.
"You have to take your hat off to the Tahitians," said veteran Hawai'i paddler Joseph "Nappy" Napoleon. "They brought their best and they won a lot of races."
Patty Eames of the Big Island's Kai 'Opua Canoe Club was the only paddler from Hawai'i to win a V-1 (solo) race. She won the women's golden masters division for paddlers age 55 and older. She also beat several younger women to place third in the senior masters race for paddlers 45 and older.
"The sprints are really special to me, that's why I try to go every time they have it," said Eames, 55. "But this year was absolutely wonderful just to have it here on our island."
Hawai'i teams won five gold medals in the V-6 (traditional six-person canoe) races. The winners:
• The Team Hawai'i women's masters won two gold medals, winning the 35-older division in both the 500-meter and 1,000-meter races. The crew featured paddlers from O'ahu and Maui — Cindy Razga, Donna Kahakui, Gail Grabowsky, Margie Kawaiaea, Kelly Fey and Denise Darval-Chang.
"We're totally satisfied," Darval-Chang said. "There's some really good crews out there, but our goal was to win the masters and we did."
• O'ahu Onipa'a won the women's golden masters (55-older) 1,000-meter race. It was the only race for that age group. Members of the crew were from various clubs on O'ahu — Nani Akeo, Pat Chung, Marilyn Kiner, Sarah Jane Watson, Susan Heitzman and Mary Martin.
"It's age discrimination because we wanted to do more races," Martin said. "We had to enter the 45 (and older) races just to practice."
• Napoleon's 'Anuenue crew won the men's golden masters (60-older) 1,000-meter race. Members of the winning crew were Napoleon, Gaylord Wilcox, Cappy Sheely, Nick Beck, Sam Rodrigues and Jon Miki.
• Keauhou from the Big Island upset a powerful Tahiti crew to win the men's senior masters (50-older) 500-meter race. Earlier, the Tahiti crew edged Keahuhou in the 1,000-meter race.
Members of the Keauhou crew were George Abood, Paul Daugherty, Cap Allen, Barry Francis, Jacques Blais and Lambert Lee Loy.
"This is huge for us," Allen said. "For the Tahitians, this is like their life. So for us to beat them even once is quite an accomplishment."
Tahiti was especially impressive in the open men's division, winning all four races. In the premier race of the event — the open men's 1,500-meter race — Mo'orea of Tahiti edged Kai 'Opua of the Big Island.
"We're the No. 4 team in Tahiti, so this is a big surprise for us," said Mo'orea paddler Persin Arii. "We're a small club and we beat the bigger clubs."
Most of the top Tahiti crews were selected after a lengthy trials process. According to team manager Barff, there were six qualifying events in Tahiti this year, and the top-ranked paddlers from those six events were selected to compete in Hilo.
"It means we brought the best paddlers, but it was also hard to make them work together because many of them were from different islands and from different clubs," Barff said.
Bruce Ayau of the Kai 'Opua men's team said: "The Tahitians are extremely fast, but we feel pretty good that we kept up with them."
All the paddlers used identical canoes for the World Sprints. However, many of the paddlers said that lane assignments were key at Hilo Bay. The inside lanes were clearly faster than the outside lanes, which were more susceptible to the swirling currents.
The 2006 World Sprints is scheduled to take place in New Zealand.
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
