Te Taitokerau descendant Elite Reti has finished among the top seven in the world for waka ama.
Competing in the Waka Ama World Sprints competition in Hawai’i, Reti held his own against some of the world’s best in the sport, charging to the J19 V1 500-metre finals.
Reti says it wasn’t easy getting to where he is but he is grateful for the opportunity.
“I uaua rawa ngā mahi o te rā nei. Ko te waimaria nui i ahau, i tae atu, i whai wāhi atu ki te whiringa toa, ki te rēhi tahi me ngā tino toki, ngā tino pū o te ao waka ama i tēnei wā.”
Today was so tough but I am grateful I came and found a spot in the finals racing against the best, the waka ama guns right now.
Reti who paddles for the Ngā Hoe Horo Outrigger Canoe Club in Kaitaia, competed in the single 500 metre sprint finals today against seven other competitors.
He says he is grateful to all those who put in the effort to help him reach this goal.
“E tika ana mā te Māori nei e tino mihi ki te rarahu o ngā mahi kua oti i taku whānau, i taku karapu me te roa o te wā. Mō te tau katoa e whakapau kaha ana, e whakapeto ngoi ana kia tae mai ai takiwā o te 100 ngā kaihoe mai i taku karapu ake nō te Nōta nei, ki konei, ki tēnei kaupapa whakaharahara nui.”
It’s only right that I acknowledge the vast amount of work put in by my family and my club for so long. The whole year they’ve worked tirelessly, so approximately 100 paddlers from my own club up north could come to this amazing event.
Waka Ama, also known as outrigger canoe racing, is swiftly becoming a growing sport within Aotearoa and across the Pacific has been a source of high-quality sport for over 40 years.
The last world sprints competition took place in England in 2022 and Reti says one of waka ama’s best nations has returned with a fire in their belly.
“Ko ngā moutere o Tahiti, kua tae mai ngā iwi mai i reira me te kite e ngāngana ana te ahi o te haukāinga rā me tō rātou tae mai ki te ngaki i ngā mate o te rua tau. Kua noho ko tātou, ko Aotearoa ki runga i te karamatamata mō te rua tau nei. Nāreira kua hoki mai a Tahiti e ngaki ana i ngā mate.”
The Tahitian islands, all of their tribes came out and you can see the fire of vengeance glowing within them over the past two years. Aotearoa has stood head and shoulders above others for the past couple of years. Now Tahiti is back with a vengeance.
Not only is Reti a waka ama world championship representative but he is also a Manu Kōrero competition winner and the male leader for Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o te Rangi Āniwaniwa at the Secondary Schools Kapa Haka national competition held in Nelson this year.
He says he wants to show the kids back home all the different paths they can follow.
“Ko te painga mōku mō te tangata e hiahia ana ki te mahi i ngā mahi katoa, me rapu ki te tauwaenga, me rapu i tōna pae tawhiti ake. Mōku, ehara i te toa i ngā whakataetae katoa, engari ko te rapu i te pae tawhiti e hiahia ai e tōku whānau, e tōku iwi, kua mana ngā mahi i reira, kua mana ngā mahi a kui mā a kara mā. Nā e whakatauria ana a au mō aku teina, mō ngā mokopuna o te iwi anā, he ara hou tēnā, he ara pai tērā.”
The benefit to me, for those who want to do everything, you need to find a balance as well as finding your end goal. For me personally, it’s not to win every competition but to find the best outcome wished for by my family and iwi - that’s the reward for me. So I want to set an example for our kids and babies at home. This is a new path and a good one at that.
