Tuesday, October 17, 2017
OUTRIGGER paddler Aroha Grant may have taken a step towards becoming a World Champion for her Te Whanau-a-Apanui Waka Ama Club. Photo supplied
Ross McCullough
Waka ama outrigger paddler Aroha Grant finished fourth in the premier women’s division at the Long-Distance Nationals at Ahuriri in Napier over the weekend.
Grant, representing Te Whanau-a-Apanui Waka Ama Club, said unfortunately she didn’t also qualify for the waka ama world championships, but she would have another chance to be considered at regional trials in December.
She said qualifying for the IVF Va’a World Sprint Championships in July next year remained her aim.
Grant said the fastest five crews from New Zealand get to go to the worlds by individual paddlers meeting a qualifying time from nationals.
Organisers recently added an elite division with the top six paddlers from New Zealand able to trial to make a team to take on another top team at the 11-day event, being held in Tahiti from July 16 to 26.
If Grant, 36, qualifies it will be her third appearance at the championships.
She has been competing in the sport she terms “invigorating” for 22 years, starting out at the age of 15.
Her first World Sprint Championships were in Fiji, aged 15, and her second were in Canada in 2012.
If she qualifies for the 2018 championships in Tahiti, it will be Grant’s first time representing Te Whanau-a-Apanui Waka Ama Club – a club she started this year to revive the tradition of waka ama outrigger canoeing on the Coast.
Originating from Gisborne and formerly of the Mareikura Canoe Club under Matahi and Raipoia Brightwell, it was through her father that she ended up in the area and established the club.
She said making the elite New Zealand squad for Worlds would be a huge fillip for the sport on the Coast, giving it more recognition and an avenue for world-level competition to its people,
Grant is working towards being a world champion in the singles, and every meet she takes part in is a step toward that goal, she said.
“Standing on the podium is always an amazing achievement but even more so to stand there on behalf of my iwi has so much more meaning for me … It would mean the world to me.”
First and foremost, she said she loved the cultural and whanau connection of the sport, but also its accessibility to enable anyone to realise their potential as world class athletes.
“I love being out on the water, amidst the most powerful elements on earth. It’s invigorating, makes you feel alive. I am truly living when I am out on the water.”