Skip Content
The Horouta Waka Hoe Club

The Horouta Waka Hoe Club received an unexpected birthday surprise at the Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Waka Ama National champs this week.

The club is celebrating its 20th year this year and had its named pulled from the hat in a draw for exclusive access to a lakeside VIP tent at Lake Karāpiro for the duration of the week-long regatta.

The tent, complete with white picket fence, furnished with beanbags and stocked with drinks and snacks, caters for­­­ up to 30 people at a time and the club gets to use it exclusively until Saturday.

On the first day of competition on Monday, it was packed with midget paddlers from the club, with Team Minions jumping on the beanbags and cheering on their Team Hulk club-mates in one of the first races.

As crews returned from their races, they were welcomed back to the tent with high fives and hugs from team-mates and whānau.

Steph Te Amo-Smith from the club says it was a great surprise to learn they had won the competition and the club intended to make the most of their good luck.

“It’s pretty awesome,” she says.

“It’s huge for us to win. We’ll be rotating crews through here all week.”

The club is used to winning, taking out the prestigious Club Points trophy six times in the last seven years.

To enter the competition, people had to say what waka ama means to them.

The winning Horouta entry was:  “I believe Waka Ama gives my family and me something healthy and whānau orientated to do as a whānau.” 

 Back to news & events

Published On:

Article By:



Other Articles

  • 27 March 2025

    A whakairo journey shaped by art and community

    Murray ‘Muzz’ Green (Te Kanawa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Whatakaraka, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Te Kiriwai, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Ngutū, Whānau-a-Apanui and Ngāti Porou) left school at 15 when he realised conventional education wasn’t for him.

  • 20 March 2025

    Nāwai i tauira, kua kaiako

    Ahakoa he rerekē noa atu te ao i tipu ake ai a Rob Bromley i tāna e mōhio nei i tēnei rā, nō te ohinga ake, ka rongo ia i tētahi hao ki te reo Māori.

  • 10 March 2025

    Te Wānanga o Aotearoa recognised as leader in Māori HR

    Te Wānanga o Aotearoa was awarded the prestigious Mana Tangata Award at the 2025 NZ HR Excellence Awards on Thursday 27 February in Tāmaki Makaurau.

  • 06 March 2025

    A kaiako who built more than a course

    When Peter Waaka arrived in Queenstown many years ago, with a career spanning government work, hotel management, and Māori development teaching wasn’t on his radar. But life has a way of leading us in unexpected directions, and for Peter, that was helping tauira turn their business ideas into reality.