E toru marama kei te toe ki te whakataetae IVF Waka Ama o Te Ao ka tū ki Tahiti, heoi, e whakaheke werawera ana ngā toa pakipaki tāne ā Ao, ki te wikitōria anō i tā rātou taitara, e rima rau mita te tawhiti.
Hei te kaiako, kaihoe hoki a Mark Williams, e upoko mārō ana ngēnei toa whakaihuwaka pūrua o te ao, ahakoa ngā mahi a tāwhirimātea, kia hoki mai me te kōura.
“(We’re) training in all sorts of weather. As you can see today's weather is not the best but we've got to get out there and just train hard, there's no other way to do it,” ka kī atu a ia.
I ohorere ngā toki o ao waka ama, nō Tahiti, i puta te ihu o te waka o ngā tāne nō Aotearoa i te whakataetae o te Ao i tū i Ahitereiria e rua tau ki muri.
“It was a big surprise to Tahiti, and this year is going to be no different,” i kōrero atu a kaihoe toa ā ao, a Tupuria King (Waikato, Ngāpuhi).
“We're going to have to dig really because it's their home country so they're gonna be really strong. But I mean, we've got a really good coach and the best paddlers in New Zealand.”
Tokowhā ngā tāne kaihoe me te kaiako e noho nei i raro i te maru o Ngā Hau Maiangi me ngāna karapu e whā o Tāmaki Makaurau, nā tētehi o ngā kaumātua, nā Eru Thompson i whakatū. Tekau mā tahi te runga rawa o ngā kapa o Ngā Hau Maiangi e haere ana hei kanohi mō Aotearoa ki Tahiti.
“Tino uaua te mahi nei. Te parakatihi ia rā ia rā, ahakoa te aha,” i kōrero atu te hēkeretari o Ngā Hau Maiangi, a Mereana Hona.
“Kei te riri a Tāwhirimātea i tēnei wā. Kei te parakatihi tonu rātou, kei te whakapakari tīnana, whakapakari wairua, hinengaro rātou.”
Ahakoa ka tū te whakataetae ki te whenua o te hoariri, e māia tonu ana ngā kaihoe.
“Particularly in the sprints we have strong boys, big strong boys with Māori and Pacific backgrounds, and we have the ability to overpower the Tahitian's I think,” i mea atu a Kingi.
“The Tahitian's are good at the long distance and the ocean stuff, but we here pride ourselves on the sprints.”
“We're just easy going guys,” i kī atu a Williams. “We like to work for each other and train hard for each other. Keep it nice and simple.”
Tekau mā tahi ngā rā ka tū ngā rehi, ka tīmata hei te tekau mā ono o te marama o Hōngongoi.