Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 9, 1 September 2004 — OUTRIGGER OLYMPICS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OUTRIGGER OLYMPICS

international paddlers gatherr fahiti dominates at the outrigger World Sprints in llilo

Story and photos by Derek Ferrar

While the 01ympics were getting under way in Athens last month, Hilo Bay was playing host to its own gathering of international athletes. The 2004 Hilo World Sprints - the world ehampionship of short-distance outrigger eanoe racing - brought together some 1,800 paddlers from 20 international regions, ranging from powerhouses like Tahiti, Hawai'i and Aotearoa (New Zealand) to tiny island teams like Niue, Rapanui and Wallis and Futuna, as well as teams from as far away as Canada, Italy, Hong Kong, Australia and Brazil. Held in a different location every two years by the International Va'a Foundation, the World Sprints features competition in a range of age brackets - from teens to seniors - in oneperson, six-person and 12-person

(double-hull) canoes. The competition, whieh first started in 1984, had not been held in Hawai'i since 1988, when Honolulu played host. The six-day event turned Hilo's normally tranquil bayfront heaeh into a multinational tent city, with a paddler's U.N. of team flags fluttering along the hlaek sand. Race announeements rang over the loudspeakers in English and French, while paddlers from every corner of Polynesia and far beyond laughed, strummed guitars and relived races with one another across the language barrier. In the evenings, festivities included a Parade of Paddlers and a culture night when teams shared the songs, dances and chants of their homes. "It feels like our little town has been internationalized," said Lane Ueda, a loeal paddler who took a week off

from teaching to g help with the sprints. "We've always

been so isolated; it's amazing to have the world eome here." The biggest foreign delegation, with about 400 competitors, eame from Aotearoa, whieh will host the next World Sprints in 2006. Other teams brought just a handful of paddlers to compete in the worlds for the first time. "It's a great experience to be one of the new countries here," said Nicholas Bourlon from Brazil's Rio Va'a club. "You ean see the sport is really exploding." As the finals approached, virtually every race eame down to the wire, and everyone agreed that the level of competition was sky high. "You've got the best in the world here," said William Cawlins, whose Niue team was making its first trip to the worlds. "So you have to push yourself harder and harder." In Tahiti, paddling is both a nalional passion and a professional sport, and the Tahitians brought their very best, looking to repeat their victory at the last World Sprints in Bora Bora. In the end, the powerful Tahitian teams were able to dominate even on Hawai'i's home turf, winning gold in 27 of 44 events, and 57 medals overall. Hawai'i was a distant second, with nine golds and 39 medals total. Aotearoa was third with 27 medals, including three gold "We are very happy that we really have something to take home and show," said Team Tahiti manager Gordon Barff, who added that Tahiti's government paid half the cost of bringing about 200 paddlers to the Sprints. "For us to do so well here, it feels good in the heart." One special highlight of the event was an adaptive-paddling exhibition race, in whieh paddlers with disabilities teamed up with non-disabled crewmates in 12-person double-hull canoes. The race - a first for the World Sprints - included teams from Hawai'i, Italy, the U.S. and Canada,

with Team Hawai'i pulling ahead at the finish for a close win. Afterward, all the paddlers received medals, and there were beaming smiles all around. "That was the best eanoe race I've ever been in," said top-ranked Hawai'i paddler Mike Judd, who assisted in the exhibition. Organizers of the adaptive race said they hoped the demonstration will help get the sport into the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. To be sure, the Sprints had their share of logistical glitches that had many paddlers grumbling, including computer problems, delayed races and lots of rules protests, along with a current that favored the two inside lanes on the 500-meter course. But such stresses aside, paddling mentor John Kekoa, whose Kekoa Foundation organized the event, looked happy, if a little worn out, at the final awards ceremony.

"I just wanted a eanoe race, to give something back to Hilo for supporting our clubs over the years," said Kekoa, who founded Hilo's Kamehameha Canoe Club. "It went a little beyond what I thought it would be, but long story short, I wanted a eanoe race, and that's what I got. The volunteers and the people of Hilo have just been unreal, and we have had people from twenty countries here, getting along as brothers and sisters." ■

Clockwise from top left: Puna craftsman Ray Bumatai shows off a eanoe he made from albesia wood in just two-and-a-half weeks; Tahitian teammates share a joke; a Tahitian TV reporter films a winnina crew; Canadian competitors feel the heat.

G S B Total Tahiti 27 18 12 57 Hawai'i 9 12 18 39 Aotearoa 3 1 3 1 1 27 Australia 4 0 15 N. Caledonia 0 112 Pacific NW 10 0 1 Canada 0011