Fiji International to be held in Suva from the 17th - 19th April.
Colin Philp
President
Fiji Outrigger
Ph: +679 3363 040
Fax: +679 3363043
We are enjoying sunny spells and sunny hospitality here in Suva for the Wai Tui Fiji International.
First held in 2003, this has become an annual event which offers Fijian paddlers the chance to flex a little muscle and for overseas paddlers to enjoy the 'Bula' experience of Fiji. Organizer, Colin Philp, has since founding this event, come to see it as a grass-roots event, not so much for the elite but for those who merely wish to experience the sport in a mellow, tropical environment, where simply being a part of the event, will warm you to the sport if you have grown cold of red tape and the absence of 'Aloha' which paddlers speak of, but rarely feel.
Here's a note from Claire from Port Stephens Aust: "Hi Australia - Claire H from PDs here i've just hijacked the race organizers laptop - Its awesome here! Everyone should come next year. We got a mention on Fiji TV last night, and Linda is racing OC1 marathon this afternoon. Bring it ON!!"
So rude! OK, I'm back...having moved a few times in its short life, being in Nadi (Nan_di) last year, the event has now moved to the University of the South Pacific just outside of Suva, a site used for the 2007 Hobie Worlds. Protected by a rock wall, the harbour area is proving to be a great sprint course for the V1 races currently underway, with paddlers from Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Samoa and Fiji competing. Conditions are hot and humid and apart from the occasional threatening storm cloud drifting past the fringing reef on the far distant horizon, conditions are calm.
Mandy and I are paddling with American Samoa, between taking photos and interviewing for kanuculture.com and Pacific Paddler magazine. We are guests of the Fiji Visitors Bureau and the Holiday Inn Suva to whom we thank for their support.
The event will run from today, Thursday 17th to Saturday 19th. V1 events today, and V6 events over Friday and Saturday, including Sprints and Marathon races. More later.
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Day 1...the V1 500m rudderless events continued on through the day, with some increased wind and shower activity, leading to the U16 and U19 V6 marathon races in the latter part of the afternoon. NZ U19 Hemi Wahapango paddling with the Portage Crossing, winner of the World Sprints in NZ, continued good form to win in 2:32:09 and also backed up to win the Open event in 2:46:09 in strong blustery head winds. Richard Thrupp from NZ finished runner up to Hemi in both events. Maia Davis (NZ) won the U19 500m V1 in 3:07:99 followed by Carley Eklund also of NZ, demonstrating the depth of their Kiwis V1 paddlers in the junior divisions.
Encouragingly the event also included an U14 division. Fiji is strongly behind their juniors seeing that in order to compete with some emerging Pacific island paddling regions, that this is essential to their future success on the international scene and in building a culture of paddling amongst the community. The U14 mixed, girl and boys teams paddled over 6km, with strong performances from the Nadi team winning all events and PNG collecting silver in the mixed and girls event.
The U19 marathon over 15km took the paddlers outside the reef, where massive Pacific swells pounded on the reef and challenged the paddlers and steerers, especially when rain squalls, salt spray, mist and a setting sun made for limited visibility. The U19 girls race was won by Portage Crossing in 1:47:53, followed by their second team and in the U19 boys event also by Portage Crossing in 1:30:25 followed by an excellent performance by the Port Moresby Canoe Club PNG 1:37:52.
With the importation of Hyper Canoes into Fiji, these ruddered light weight canoes have opened up open ocean paddling and paddlers enjoyed the large swells outside the reef, organiser Colin Philp returned to shore all smiles and stoked at surfing the 10-15' faces.
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Day 2 - It's raining, but no wind as yet. V6 500m, 1000m across all divisions, plus 1500m for the open men and women. OC1 15km marathons this afternoon. Vinaka, Steve.