Apr 18-21 - Shell Fiji International Va'a Championship - Fiji

Teams from Fiji, Australia, Samoa, & New Zealand are racing.
Update: :[Results] from all three days of the event
Also Read more for article by Steve West

FIJI SHELL GAMES INTERNATIONAL 18th-21st April 2003

The idea of paddling in Fiji, conjures up images as evocative as that of
paddling in Tahiti or Hawaii. Our sports strong association with the
tropical islands and cultures of the Pacific, makes the venue as alluring
and enticing as the sport itself.

As a travel destination, Fiji has always had its own special appeal. Over
the past ten years, surfing has become a tourist industry in its own right
through out the islands. Surf Camps now proliferate the more popular venues
and best of all, its still relatively cheap which makes it even more
appealing to the travelling surfer.

Outrigger canoe paddlers are not dissimilar to that of surfers in their
desire to travel to exotic locations to paddle unfamiliar tropical waters,
and in this respect, it certainly helps if there is an infrastructure in
place to make this possible. The staging of the 1998 IVF World Sprints in
the capital of Suva did great things to expose the sport and attract new
participation. In June 2003, the biggest and most significant sporting event
in the South Pacific will be staged in Suva, the South Pacific Games, where
outrigger canoeing will be one of the most hotly contested of sports,
involving sprint and marathon races in OC6 and V1 canoes.

The Fiji Shell International event was staged as a means of inviting outside
competition to compete against Fiji's SPG teams preparing for the big event
and to instigate the beginning of an annual event thereafter. With the
significant and generous sponsorship of Shell Fiji, the event has the
makings of a great future, with unilateral support from Shell Tahiti who are
already significant supporters of the sport and with growing interest from
Shell New Caledonia.

IVF delegate and Race Director of the Bora Bora Worlds, Charles Villierme
flew in from Tahiti to oversee the running of the event and to assist with
the preparation of marshalls, time keeping procedures and officials for the
SPG. For my part, I have had the pleasure of acting as technical advisor to
head coach Colin Philp to the SPG Squad. Colin and I had concluded that at
this event, we needed to ensure that the Fiji teams had the opportunity to
race against a hi-calibre crew in order to guage their progress.

For the Fiji Shell Games International, we secured generous support from Air
Pacific and FOCRA in assisting with the bringing over a crew of paddlers
from Outrigger Canoe Club Australia, which included Chris Maynard, Robby
Dorrough, Aaron Bitmead, Jamie Mitchell, Mike Murray and myself. All five
are professional lifeguards with the Gold Coast City Council and between us
there was a fair collection of Molokai and Hamilton Cup winnings, in
addition, Aaron being a past World Paddle Board Champion and Jamie being the
current World Paddle Board Champion; the line up was certainly going to give
the SPG teams the competition it wanted.

I had flewn on ahead of the rest of the crew to arrange things and collected
them from Nadi Airport a few days later. It looked more like a surf trip as
they emerged from arrivals - trolleys loaded with surfboards, surfbags and a
Kanuculture paddle bag stuffed with paddles. Beer was the first request to
numb the 3 hour minivan drive along the coast to Suva and to assist with the
acclimatisation process. A carton of Fiji Bitter took care of that very
nicely and many a story was enjoyed along the way.

It had been arranged that the team would stay at Dave Philp's house, brother
to Colin. When we pulled up at around 8am the boys were in good form and
were very stoked to find themselves in a relaxed beach house, complete with
great sound system, bar, ocean view and fish and chicken curry simmering on
the stove. It doesn?t get much better.

The next few mornings were spent paddling out to reef for extended surfing
sessions using a canoe as the preferred means of transportation. Boards
strapped to the canoe, along with food and water. It was quite an
experience. The afternoons were spent lazing around watching DVD's, swimming
in the pool and drinking duty free Bourbon and cokes, evening dinners at the
Tradewinds Hotel - pre race training of the highest order.

Friday, and day one of racing arrived. The events were to follow the SPG
race format. Mens and womens divisions, 500m and 2500m OC6 and in the
afternoon a V1 [rudderless] marathon; 10km for women, 17km for men involving
both lagoon and open water paddling. Other overseas teams included Samoa and
New Zealand. Teams from California were also to participate, but due to the
SARS outbreak and the War, pulled out.

The level of racing and efficiency with which the races proceeded was very
good as marshalls were trained in preparation for the SPG. The Fiji teams
paddled well and certainly appreciated the extra level of competion which
raised there own performance levels. We finished fastest qualifiers in the
500m in 1:55:80 from Fiji A in 1:56:96. In the 2500m we finished fastest in
11:28:93 to Fiji B?s 12:08:48. Fiji A womens crew finished in 2:15:20 over
500m and 13:18:74 over 2500m.

In the afternoon, Chris Maynard and I took on the challenge of the V1
rudderless 17km marathon, which proved to be one the most painful things we
had ever done. Chris Maynard paddled well and finished 3rd, especially as he
probably paddled an extra 2km or so and on several occassion was thinking of
retiring! I held my own for sometime, but suffered when my hydration system
failed to deliver which I let get the better of me and finished 7th. Local,
Wayne Houng Lee paddled exceptionally well to win from up and coming
challenger Anthony Halapua.

The following day, the 500m and 2500m OC6 finals were held and the 500m V1
sprints. Outrigger Australia won the 500m in 1:58:80 from Fiji A?s 2:00:66
and the 2500m in 11:31:96 from Fiji B?s 12:08:03 and Samoa?s 12:29:34. In
the womens events, Fiji womens A crew won in 2:20:49 and 13:24:10.

The V1 500m events were hotly contested. All the Aussie lads gave it a go
with 2 making it into the final; Aaron Bitmead and Chris Maynard. In the
final Aaron Crossed first but was DQ?d for finishing the wrong side of the
marker allowing Chris to take line honors in 2:25:34, followed by Anthony
Halapua in 2:28:07 then Wayne Houng Lee in 2:31:07. The womens race was won
by Louisa Marama in 2:49:21 who shows great potential, followed by Loretta
St Julian 2:58:25 then Malama Tafunai from Samoa in 2:58:34.

With the racing and presentations out of the way it was back home for a swim
and few beers and some dinner. Later that evening the Aussies went down town
to ?Traps?, the local nightclub to be entertained by some Samoan and Fijian
dancing. Partying went on into the early hours.
Sunday was a rest day prior to the 30km race. The surf was up, so the best
way to cure a hangover was to drop into a few waves. Dave Philp offered a
ride out to the reef in his boat, as a paddle just seemed too hard. By
lunchtime, everyone was exhausted and an afternoon kip was in order. In the
evening we went into town a rigged our canoe and had a quick float, then
back to the Tradewinds for a pre-race meal.

The following day was a little overcast with a moderate sea and swell. The
womens race over 20km set out early at 7.30am as was won by Fiji A in
1:58:47 followed by Fiji B in 2:02:43 then a mixed Kiwi team in 2:07:19.

Our race got under way shortly after. Outrigger Australia took an early lead
and extended it throughout t to the finish line in 2:28:57 followed by Fiji
A in 2:36:57 and Samoa 2:49:35.

The race course is exellent and very scenic. Making your way out through the
passage, the canoes follow the reef for sometime before turning for the
downwind run to the Namuka Passage. Though the seas were small, it was a
great run. Once through the passage, the canoes paddled over shallow clear
waters behind the reefline, back towards Suva, before passing back out
through Rats Tail Passage into open water. Turning around a buoy close to
the reef, the canoes head back along the reef and into Suva Harbour to
finish.

It was great to see the Samoans and New Zealanders at the event which added
to international flavour. I can speak for all of the Australians who
participated, that we truly had a great experience. A great adventure and a
great event. Fiji is a fantastic venue and with added promotion and support,
next years event will only get bigger and better.

Steve West

Posted by keizo on Fri, 04/18/2003 - 11:00am