It’s back to training for the teams of the Te Pou Herenga Waka Club who lost one of their founders, Hori Pomana last week. Pomana was a main figure in the Waka Ama community, his death saddened many across the country.
Waru Clark, taught by Hori, has now taken over Hori’s teams but knows if Hori was still here today he would be at the training.
It’s a big year for the club, who have more than 70 paddlers in their club and have their first intermediate team competing at next weeks National Waka Ama competition.
“This year we’ve really grown, we paddled throughout the winter, our winter season has made us strong, out of all the clubs (in the country) we paddled the most regattas through the winter season, we paddled 16 competitions in the 2016 year, and that helped build a strong base for our club” says Clark.
The club will paddle in Hori’s honour next week.