Police winners with waka ama

Lake Pupuke in Auckland was the venue of the inaugural women's waka ama regatta organised by NZ Police at ANZAC weekend.



Waka ama are outrigger canoes and the regattas are run along similar lines to Dragon Boat festivals.

Constable Marty Felton of Greenlane Recruiting helped organise the regatta. He says the regatta is part of the police recruitment drive for more women to join the police.

"We chose waka ama because it is an up and coming sport, popular with women. There are 17 clubs in Auckland alone and the 2006 the World Championships, which involves teams from 32 countries, are going to be held in New Zealand. There are no other dedicated women's waka ama regattas out there and we jumped at the chance to establish one."

Marty says he hopes the regatta will become an established police community sports event like the annual kilikiti (Pacific cricket) tournament which has proved to be a valuable recruiting tool and important link with the Pacific community.

"These sorts of events are a great way to interact with the community. They not only help spread the message of policing as a career but also provide an opportunity for us to interact with the community in a positive way," says Marty.

Twenty-two teams comprising 12 members each competed in the regatta. Teams included NZ Police, Air Force, Breast Cancer, and Mäori Women's Mental Health. There were two divisions – corporate for those who are new to waka ama and open division for clubs and experienced paddlers.

The Pupuke-Moana Waka Ama Club helped Marty and the team organise the regatta and they also helped coach and provide equipment to the newly-formed NZ Police Women's Waka Ama Team.

Marty says he was pleased by the response he got from female staff when he put out the call for a team in March.

Made up of a combination of sworn and nonsworn staff the team had just five weeks to train for the event and they were stoked when they won the 'Super 12' waka ama (two wakas lashed together and powered by 12 paddlers) challenge at the regatta.

One of the team members, Senior Sergeant Sharon Stephens, Auckland Traffic, says paddling waka ama is excellent team sport. "It's also a great workout!," she says.

"Our coach is stunned at the progress of such a new team. We only formed a short time ago but already we have won the women's event plus were placed 5th and 7th in a 10 kilometre event recently."

The team practices on the water twice a week. Sharon says while fitness is important so is attitude and team work. "I think we've done so well because we have a 'never say die' attitude," she laughs.

Overall, Marty and the recruiting team at Greenlane are pleased with how the regatta went and have already started thinking about next year's event. "The hardest bit – setting up the event from scratch – is over. Now we just need to build on this year's success," says Marty.