News
Fiji Outrigger, represented by 29-paddlers, at 2010 World Sprints in Noumea
Fiji Outrigger will be represented at the 14th World Sprints in Noumea, New Caledonia. The 29-paddler squad is represented by three clubs from Fiji. Takia Outrigger Canoe Club, Tafaga Canoe Club and Nadi Bay Canoe Club.
The squad will be represented by in the following categories: Open Men, Open Women, Masters Women in V6 races and in V1 races, two athletes in the boys and girls U16 categories and in the one athlete in the Senior Masters division.
“The 29-paddler squad has been training for this event since December 2009, and the team is made up of relatively new paddlers, whose ultimate goal would by representation at the 2011 Pacific Games also to be held in Noumea next year.” ‘Association secretary Sheena Hughes said.
“The clubs attending have spent a lot of effort in getting their squad to the Worlds with over $75,000 being the collective amount raised to get the team there” she added.
The World Sprints are held every 2 years and only have sprint races run over 500m and 1500m races. This years event will see in excess of 1500 paddlers converge on Noumea’s Anste Vata Beach to contest to honours of the fastest country in Outrigger. Competition proper begins 25th May and ends 29th May.
The International Va’a Federation is the international body for the sport of Outrigger Canoeing. Its member countries include American Samoa - Argentina - Australia - Belgium - Brazil - California - Canada - Cook Islands - East Cost USA - England - Fiji - France - Germany - Guam - Hawaii - Hong Kong - Italia - Japan - Marshall Islands - New Caledonia - New Zealand - Niue Northern Marianas - Pacific Northwest - Palau - Rapa Nui - Samoa - Sweden - Tahiti - Tonga - Wallis and Futuna
Saturday 22nd May
Fiji attend blessing of the canoes at the 2010 Va’a World Sprints in Noumea, First out to practice on the race course
Taf’aga Outrigger Canoe Club, representing the Fiji contingent to the Va’a World Sprints in Noumea, yesterday morning attended the traditional blessing of the canoes and the raising of the flags ceremony at the Anse Vata beach.
Locals as well as teams from France, New Zealand, Australia, United States, New Caledonia and Wallis & Futuna assembled to listen to the sermon blessing the new six-man (V6) and one-man (V1) outrigger canoes delivered by Father Georges Sao of St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Following the prayer, holy water was sprinkled onto the front of the canoes and the flags of each country were raised by the shoreline. Altogether over 1000 paddlers from 16 different countries will take part in the 5-day Championships from the 25th to the 29th May.
Later in the morning, Fiji were first out on the water in the new outrigger canoes purchased for this year’s World Sprints and next year’s South Pacific Games, which will also be held in New Caledonia. Taf’aga men’s and women’s teams had their first taste of paddling in Noumea and spent the valuable practice time familiarising themselves with the canoes and the local, rather windy, conditions.
Tomorrow, the Parade of the Paddlers and Official Opening Ceremony will take place, also at the Anse Vata beach.
Fiji is represented at the 2010 Va’a World Sprints by 28 paddlers from three clubs, Taf’aga Outrigger Canoe Club, Takia Canoe Club and Nadi Bay Canoe Club.
In the V6 events there will be two teams competing in the Open Men’s division, one in the Open Women and one in the Masters Women division. In the V1 competition, Fiji has two representatives in the Junior division, six representatives in the Open Men, three in the Open Women, four in the Master Women, two in the Senior Master Women and one in the Senior Master Men.
The competition races will begin on Tuesday 25th May.
Wednesday, 26th May
Hi again everyone!
Day 1 and 2 of the World Sprints have just flown by!! There's been so many races - all of us have raced at least once now and some 3 or 4 times! I'll try and do a quick summary, in case you haven't got all the info yet but first I should say that it has been so exciting competing against all these paddlers from all over the world and of course being in the same races against the top in the world is an experience that we won't be forgetting in a hurry. We are mostly an inexperienced squad when it comes to international meets so this is a great learning opportunity for all of us.
Here's the run down race by race.
Day 1
U16 V1
First up! Courtney - came in 4th in a close race - time 2.47.73
Matia - also finished 4th - 2.37.97
Both went through to the repechage to congrats to them!
Open Womens V1
Mere - 7th - 3.04.59
Megan - 6th - 2.58.88 (PB)
Katerina - 6th - 2.47.87 (PB)
Unfortunately none of the ladies made it through to repechage although Megs and Kat were pleased with the PBs.
Open Mens V1
Mesu Uluilakeba - 3rd- 2.32.72 (PB)
Guy - 5th - 2.33.68
Elia Ravumaidama - 5th 2.41.03 (PB)
Akuila Koroi - 5th - 2.48.47 (PB)
Johnny Chung - 7th - 2.37.89
Mesu qualified for the repechage, but they only took the first four from each heat so despite only being a second slower Guy did not make the repechage.
Open Mens V12 Semi-Final - Tafaga/Takia/Nadi Bay combined Fiji team - 7th - 1.59.42
Open Womens V12 Semi-Final - Tafaga plus Courtney - 4th - 2.13.37 - beating the Australian number 1 team by half a second to qualify in 8th place for the final!
Day 2
U16
Matia came 2nd in the repechage (2.33.06) to start the day-off in the best way possible, by making it to the Semis!
In the Semi-Final Matia finished 7th (2.34.47). Well done Matia on a great run in your first World Sprints!
Courtney also did her very best to try to make it through to the U16 Finals, finished 3rd in her repechage in a close and hard fought battle with the girls from New Zealnd and Tahiti. The Tahiti girl pipped Courtney by less than a second to get through but as Courtney herself said, 9th in the World isn't too bad!!
Masters Men V1
Peni Finekaso - 7th - 2.57.49
Senior Masters Women
Elise - 6th - 2.54.56 - Elise narrowly missed out on the repechage
Kelera Elder - DQ
Masters Women
Just a quick comment - the Masters Women event was very competitive with as many heats (6) as in the Open Womens event!
Cecillia - 8th - 2.54.36
Selita - 8th - 3.00.49
Elise - 5th - 2.51.47 - again narrowly missing out on the repechage!
V1 Open Men
Our sole Open rep through from Day 1 was Mesu - he finished a respectable 6th in his repechage with 2.32.93
V12 Open Women FINAL
Was the last race of the day. It was a great race to compete in with everyone watching. We put up a good fight, coming in 7th and again beating the Australian team.
All in all a great two days so far.
Apart from Fiji results, one thing I'll mention is that at the end of Day 2 there have been 10 finals so far... and Tahiti has won 7 of them!!! There's a reason why everyone wants to beat the Tahitians...they're the best!
See ya tomorrow
Katerina
Fiji Outrigger will be represented at the 14th World Sprints in Noumea, New Caledonia. The 29-paddler squad is represented by three clubs from Fiji. Takia Outrigger Canoe Club, Tafaga Canoe Club and Nadi Bay Canoe Club.
The squad will be represented by in the following categories: Open Men, Open Women, Masters Women in V6 races and in V1 races, two athletes in the boys and girls U16 categories and in the one athlete in the Senior Masters division.
“The 29-paddler squad has been training for this event since December 2009, and the team is made up of relatively new paddlers, whose ultimate goal would by representation at the 2011 Pacific Games also to be held in Noumea next year.” ‘Association secretary Sheena Hughes said.
“The clubs attending have spent a lot of effort in getting their squad to the Worlds with over $75,000 being the collective amount raised to get the team there” she added.
The World Sprints are held every 2 years and only have sprint races run over 500m and 1500m races. This years event will see in excess of 1500 paddlers converge on Noumea’s Anste Vata Beach to contest to honours of the fastest country in Outrigger. Competition proper begins 25th May and ends 29th May.
The International Va’a Federation is the international body for the sport of Outrigger Canoeing. Its member countries include American Samoa - Argentina - Australia - Belgium - Brazil - California - Canada - Cook Islands - East Cost USA - England - Fiji - France - Germany - Guam - Hawaii - Hong Kong - Italia - Japan - Marshall Islands - New Caledonia - New Zealand - Niue Northern Marianas - Pacific Northwest - Palau - Rapa Nui - Samoa - Sweden - Tahiti - Tonga - Wallis and Futuna
Saturday 22nd May
Fiji attend blessing of the canoes at the 2010 Va’a World Sprints in Noumea, First out to practice on the race course
Taf’aga Outrigger Canoe Club, representing the Fiji contingent to the Va’a World Sprints in Noumea, yesterday morning attended the traditional blessing of the canoes and the raising of the flags ceremony at the Anse Vata beach.
Locals as well as teams from France, New Zealand, Australia, United States, New Caledonia and Wallis & Futuna assembled to listen to the sermon blessing the new six-man (V6) and one-man (V1) outrigger canoes delivered by Father Georges Sao of St. Joseph’s Cathedral. Following the prayer, holy water was sprinkled onto the front of the canoes and the flags of each country were raised by the shoreline. Altogether over 1000 paddlers from 16 different countries will take part in the 5-day Championships from the 25th to the 29th May.
Later in the morning, Fiji were first out on the water in the new outrigger canoes purchased for this year’s World Sprints and next year’s South Pacific Games, which will also be held in New Caledonia. Taf’aga men’s and women’s teams had their first taste of paddling in Noumea and spent the valuable practice time familiarising themselves with the canoes and the local, rather windy, conditions.
Tomorrow, the Parade of the Paddlers and Official Opening Ceremony will take place, also at the Anse Vata beach.
Fiji is represented at the 2010 Va’a World Sprints by 28 paddlers from three clubs, Taf’aga Outrigger Canoe Club, Takia Canoe Club and Nadi Bay Canoe Club.
In the V6 events there will be two teams competing in the Open Men’s division, one in the Open Women and one in the Masters Women division. In the V1 competition, Fiji has two representatives in the Junior division, six representatives in the Open Men, three in the Open Women, four in the Master Women, two in the Senior Master Women and one in the Senior Master Men.
The competition races will begin on Tuesday 25th May.
Wednesday, 26th May
Hi again everyone!
Day 1 and 2 of the World Sprints have just flown by!! There's been so many races - all of us have raced at least once now and some 3 or 4 times! I'll try and do a quick summary, in case you haven't got all the info yet but first I should say that it has been so exciting competing against all these paddlers from all over the world and of course being in the same races against the top in the world is an experience that we won't be forgetting in a hurry. We are mostly an inexperienced squad when it comes to international meets so this is a great learning opportunity for all of us.
Here's the run down race by race.
Day 1
U16 V1
First up! Courtney - came in 4th in a close race - time 2.47.73
Matia - also finished 4th - 2.37.97
Both went through to the repechage to congrats to them!
Open Womens V1
Mere - 7th - 3.04.59
Megan - 6th - 2.58.88 (PB)
Katerina - 6th - 2.47.87 (PB)
Unfortunately none of the ladies made it through to repechage although Megs and Kat were pleased with the PBs.
Open Mens V1
Mesu Uluilakeba - 3rd- 2.32.72 (PB)
Guy - 5th - 2.33.68
Elia Ravumaidama - 5th 2.41.03 (PB)
Akuila Koroi - 5th - 2.48.47 (PB)
Johnny Chung - 7th - 2.37.89
Mesu qualified for the repechage, but they only took the first four from each heat so despite only being a second slower Guy did not make the repechage.
Open Mens V12 Semi-Final - Tafaga/Takia/Nadi Bay combined Fiji team - 7th - 1.59.42
Open Womens V12 Semi-Final - Tafaga plus Courtney - 4th - 2.13.37 - beating the Australian number 1 team by half a second to qualify in 8th place for the final!
Day 2
U16
Matia came 2nd in the repechage (2.33.06) to start the day-off in the best way possible, by making it to the Semis!
In the Semi-Final Matia finished 7th (2.34.47). Well done Matia on a great run in your first World Sprints!
Courtney also did her very best to try to make it through to the U16 Finals, finished 3rd in her repechage in a close and hard fought battle with the girls from New Zealnd and Tahiti. The Tahiti girl pipped Courtney by less than a second to get through but as Courtney herself said, 9th in the World isn't too bad!!
Masters Men V1
Peni Finekaso - 7th - 2.57.49
Senior Masters Women
Elise - 6th - 2.54.56 - Elise narrowly missed out on the repechage
Kelera Elder - DQ
Masters Women
Just a quick comment - the Masters Women event was very competitive with as many heats (6) as in the Open Womens event!
Cecillia - 8th - 2.54.36
Selita - 8th - 3.00.49
Elise - 5th - 2.51.47 - again narrowly missing out on the repechage!
V1 Open Men
Our sole Open rep through from Day 1 was Mesu - he finished a respectable 6th in his repechage with 2.32.93
V12 Open Women FINAL
Was the last race of the day. It was a great race to compete in with everyone watching. We put up a good fight, coming in 7th and again beating the Australian team.
All in all a great two days so far.
Apart from Fiji results, one thing I'll mention is that at the end of Day 2 there have been 10 finals so far... and Tahiti has won 7 of them!!! There's a reason why everyone wants to beat the Tahitians...they're the best!
See ya tomorrow
Katerina