The 35th Waka Ama Sprint Championships is in full swing Photo: Copyright 2025 WakaAma NZ
It is the event many paddlers from around Aotearoa gun towards, but the heat has intensified for this year's competition.
The annual Waka Ama Sprint Championships held at Lake Karapiro has attracted waka enthusiasts from near and far, including Australia, Fiji, Tahiti, UK, and the USA - contributing to record entries.
The event has 3875 paddlers charging for a place on the podium, a 19% increase over the previous year.
Waka Ama New Zealand chief executive Lara Collins said the increase reflects on the community.
"Our Sprint Nationals is always a pinnacle event for our waka ama whānau and it is exciting to see the growth in participation numbers for this year's event."
Over seven days, the sprints event has competitors paddle at a high intensity for distances ranging between 200m and 1500m in W1 (single), W6 (6-person waka), and W12 (double hulled 12-person waka).
More than half of the competitors are under 23 years old.
"Waka ama is more than a sport- it is a way of life, and it's encouraging to see that over 60 percent of our participation for the event is aged 5 - 23 [years old]," Collins said.
"Our clubs, regions, and wider waka ama whānau are doing amazing work at the community level and this is reflective in these statistics."
Young tamariki and rangatahi racing concluded on Tuesday, with adults taking to the water on Thursday.
A couple of coaches of tamariki teams told RNZ that the venue was packed for the first three days of junior racing.
They also revealed that there were different ways to make the youngest paddlers feel like they were world champs.
"Say the word 'snow cone'," one said.
Another mentioned that the tamariki would be more stoked to have their picture posted on the glass windows at the Don Rowlands Centre, than have won a final.
"It's all about the camera shots, here comes the camera boat and they would pose instead of paddling forward."
He said the two youngest age brackets contributed heavily to the increase in paddlers.
"They see it on TV, that's the big thing, and their parents see it."
"You can get kids doing [waka ama] from a young age and they can take it right through, anywhere you go - you can paddle and you're never a stranger."
Catch the live action on Whakaata Māori.
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