Ko teetehi o ngaa karere poouri kerekere ko te rironga o te kaumaatua o Waka Ama Aotearoa o te maangai moo Ngaati Korokii Kahukura hoki o Karaitiana Tamatea.

“He tangata pukumahi te paapaa nei. Ngaa tini kaupapa katoa moo te iwi o Ngaati Korokii Kahukura, moo Te Aitanga-a-Maahaki hoki,” hei taa Lee Ann Muntz o Ngaati Korokii Kahukura.

“Meenaa ka uu ia ki te kaupapa, ka uu ia ki te kaupapa ahakoa ngaa tini kaupapa katoa,” hei taa Muntz anoo.

I te raa tuatoru o te whakataetae ka kawea e te kirimate me te iwi i te tuupapaku o te koroua ki te moana o Karaapiro kaatahi ka whakamaanawatia ai ia e te tini me te mano i reira.

“Me pono taku koorero, kua poohara a Ngaati Korokii Kahukura i te rirohanga o too taatou paapaa, o Karaitiana,” hei taa Taane Te Aho anoo.

“Noo reira, e whia mano taangata i poroporoaakiingia too taatou paapaa i toona wehenga atu ki toona marae o Maungatautari, e takoto ana ai i raro i te mahau o toona whare, o Te Manawanui,” hei taana.

Racing paused at Lake Karaapiro to honour Waka Ama stalwart Karaitiana Tamatea

Racing came to a standstill on day two of the National Waka Ama Sprint Championships as a stalwart of the sport who passed away over the weekend made his final stop at his beloved Lake Karaapiro, where paddlers formed a guard of honour in tribute.

Karaitiana Tamatea, born in 1966, alongside his wife Te Rairi and their Ngaati Korokii Kahukura whaanau, had been an integral part of the Waka Ama Nationals since the early 2000s. For more than two decades, the whaanau played a vital role in supporting the championships, hosting manuwhiri and upholding the values of manaakitanga and aroha at Lake Karaapiro.

Waka Ama Aotearoa chief executive Lara Collins said the loss was deeply felt across the waka ama community. 

“I’m a little bit sad. We’ve lost one of our special people, our kaumaatua Matua Karaitiana. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ngaati Korokii Kahukura at this time,” she said.

Collins said Karaitiana would have taken great pride in seeing the lake once again filled with paddlers from across the motu. “I know he would be excited to be receiving all 83 waka ama clubs here today – all of their tamariki and rangatahi that start racing,” she said.

Karaitiana’s legacy lives on through the generations of paddlers, volunteers and whānau who continue to gather at Lake Karaapiro, guided by the values he embodied and the mana he upheld for both the sport and his iwi.