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JANUARY 15, 2026
Tribute at waka ama By Chris Gardner
Karaitiana Tamatea’s last visit to the Waka Ama Aotearoa New Zealand Sprint Nationals on Monday was marked with a haka. Tamatea, who died on Saturday aged 66, had worked tirelessly behind the scenes for years supporting Waka Ama Aotearoa New Zealand in bringing the event to Lake Karāpiro. “This is the 17th year I have worked with him and Ngāti Korokī Kahukura,” said a visibly moved Waka Ama Aotearoa New
Zealand chief executive Lara Collins. “He’s been involved before that, and his whānau spend the whole week with us.” Tamatea’s funeral cortege called into the second day of the sprint nationals on Monday and drove along the lakeside where racing was suspended in his honour. Waka Ama Aotearoa New Zealand was a family, Collins said, and Tamatea and his whānau were an important part of it. Paddlers performed a haka as Tamatea’s hearse left the domain for his marae at Maungatautari. The sprint nationals are Waka Ama
Aotearoa New Zealand’s biggest event of the year, and the latest event attracted a record 4613 paddlers aged from five to 80. “It’s always the biggest year,” Collins said. “This year we have 800 more paddlers.” Slightly more than half of the competitors – 2472 – are female and the largest category is 16-year-old girls where there are 75 teams of six or seven girls. While other sports actively recruit 16-yearold girls, Waka Ama naturally attracted them, Collins said. “It’s intergenerational,” Collins said. “It’s a fairly inclusive sport. It’s pretty special.”
Waka Ama Aotearoa New Zealand chief executive Lara Collins pauses by the hearse carrying Ngāti Korokī Kahukura’s Karaitiana Tamatea.
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Collins said four new clubs had started in New Zealand in the last year, bringing the number of clubs up to 100. Three quarters of competitors are Māori or Pacific Islanders, and teams have come from the length of New Zealand as well as overseas including Australia, Samoa, and Japan. The first sprint national event was held at Lake Karāpiro in 1990. It has been the event’s permanent home since 1999. The biggest challenge, Collins said, was car parking. Organisers were grateful to a
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Photo: Waka Ama Aotearoa New Zealand
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