The 2022 Waka Ama National Sprint Championships have been cancelled for the first time.
Spectators at the 2021 Waka Ama Nationals at the Sir Don Rowlands Centre. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Mabel Muller
The Waka Ama New Zealand Board cited the uncertainty of the roll out of the new Covid-19 protection framework and its impact on Māori as one of the reasons they have cancelled it.
The event was due to take place at Lake Karapiro in Waikato from 16-22 January 2022.
The board said it knew the news would be very disappointing for all the regions, member clubs, paddlers, volunteers and whānau.
"This will be the first time in 32 years, since the event started in 1990, that we will not have a Waka Ama Sprint Nationals," the board said in an online statement.
"This event has grown to become part of many of our lives and a highlight on our Waka Ama calendar, an opportunity to come together, catch up with friends and whānau, make new friends, share culture, compete on the water and celebrate a sport and kaupapa that gives us all so much."
It brought forward the date it was going to announce the decision, originally scheduled for 13 December.
But it said ultimately the safety of competitors and their supporters was paramount.
The board feared the increased travel of the waka ama whānau throughout Aotearoa increased the risk of the virus travelling back into their communities.
It said the inequities and disparity in vaccination rates for Māori and Pasifika compared with general population vaccination percentages played a part in its decision - with Māori or Pasifika expected to make up 75 percent of participants at the event.
The board considered a number of other factors when making the call including:
- The event organisers' ability to ensure everyone's safety from Covid-19 at and around the event.
- Concern for tamariki under 12 who are unable to be vaccinated against Covid-19 at this time and therefore at high risk of contracting the virus.
- The knowledge that although all adult attendees at Nationals will be required to be vaccinated, that there is still a risk, albeit reduced, for Covid to be transmitted.
- Uncertainty regarding the Covid-19 traffic light system and how successful its roll out will be over summer and the impacts it will have.