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National | Kura Tuarua - Secondary School

Wet conditions can't dampen waka ama national spirits

It may have been wet on day three of the National Secondary Schools Waka Ama Championships but the weather was otherwise near perfect, with no wind and glassy conditions at Lake Tikitapu in Rotorua yesterday.

Semi-finals were held to see who would make today’s finals, the final day of racing.

The first races of the day were for the bowl awards in the Under 16 girls in the W6 500m races.  There were four semi-finals and it was Gisborne Girls’ High School who came out on top with a time of 2:47.59 beating Kotiro Toa from Huntly College, who posted a time of 2:47.62.

In the bowl under 16 boys, there were three W6 500m semi-finals.  Ritana, all the way from Lytton High School in Gisborne, got the fastest time out of the three semis, 2:31.78.  Pukeiaahua from Ngaruawahia High School had the second fastest time and won semi 3 with a time of 2:33.57.

In the Champ semi-finals for U16 boys W6 500m, Gisborne Boys’ High School got the fastest time in their category, beating the second fastest time by a huge margin of 11 seconds.

In the girls'category in the same age group, it was a closer race.  In the end, the girls all the way from Whangarei Girls’ High School came out on top of all semis with their time of 2:33.68.

In the senior girls, Manukura from Gisborne Girls’ High School showed they’re the team to beat, beating all other teams competing by at least 5 seconds.

And in the Under 19 boys section, James Cook High School got one of the fastest 500m times of the day, with their semi-final time of 2:10.44.

Today’s finals kick off this morning at 9:30am, starting with the Under 16 Girls W6 Bowl final.