Posted on: Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Hawaiian canoe racing to be shown on ESPN

By Ferd Lewis and Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writers

Hawaiian canoe racing will be featured on national television when an ESPN crew comes to Lahaina, Maui, for the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta in August.

The coverage will be part of the network's "SportsCenter Across America, 50-states-in-50-days summer tour."

The Aug. 6 mobile portion of SportsCenter from Hanakao'o Beach will involve former Hono-lulu sportscaster Neil Everett as segment host and a 20-member crew, the network said.

ESPN is showcasing various sports events from all 50 states between July 17 — with the Red Sox and Yankees from Fenway Park — and Sept. 4 — the Highland Games & Celtic Fling Battle ax throw from West Allis, Wis.

"I think it brings a lot of clout to our sport," said Hannie Anderson, president of the O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association. "They chose to televise this sport and it's a good choice because it is our state sport."

Network spokesman Paul Melvin said the regatta was picked because "we tried to choose events that have a social/cultural importance to each state and that could be fit into the matrix of a 50-day schedule."

Melvin said the amount of time the event is shown "will be somewhat dictated by other important news (that day). We will possibly tease the story and location in the opening (SportsCenter) segment, then come back to it when it fits within the news flow of the program."

He said initial plans call for two to three "hits" of two to three minutes each "and the lengths could vary depending on the news of the day and what sort of stories and footage we get in Hawai'i."

More than 3,000 paddlers representing more than 50 clubs from around the state will participate in the day-long regatta. The state regatta features sprint races ranging from a quarter-mile to 1ý-miles for various age groups. All the canoes in the regatta are made of Hawaiian koa wood.

"This will give incredible exposure to our state sport and out state," said Pam Carroll, vice president of the Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association. "We never get publicity like ESPN can give us, and it's something that can impact tourism quite a bit."

ESPN said the daily segments "will include event action, historical notes, factoids and vignettes about each state's contribution to the national sports scene ..."

"Along the way we will educate our viewers about the varied sporting events popular throughout the country and point out the well known and, perhaps, not so well known, athletes and events from each state," said Norby Williamson, senior vice president and managing editor.

An ESPN spokesman was unable to say if it will be the first time in the network's 27 years that Hawaiian canoe racing has been shown.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044, and Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.