Maevatini, the Queen’s Birthday oe vaka regatta on Aitutaki, was more than just a fun festival of paddling.

The weekend race was special for two reasons – one to honour our mate, friend and brother Alan Maki who passed away last year, with the inaugural Alan Maki Memorial Trophy 12km Lagoon Race.

The second special reason for the event was to fundraise for the Aitutaki junior paddlers who have been invited to attend Gubi Gubi – the biggest junior paddling event in Australia in September of this year.

On Saturday 15 members of Ngakau Toa and Te Tupu men’s and masters’ teams from Rarotonga along with the local Aitutaki club members from Aitutaki Oe Vaka, Te Mana and Toa Moana took to the lagoon for the 12km men’s race.

An 8km race was also staged for the under 14 boys from the Te Mana Club, women and mixed paddlers.

The 12km race started at 1pm sharp (1:45 local time) with five mens crews lined up – NTV mens, Te Tupu masters, Toa Moana masters, mixed crew of Te Tupu/NTV/Toa Moana and the Gubi Gubi juniors.

NTV literally took off with a flying start and lead the race from start to finish. That left the other four crews to jockey for positions over the first 2km with Te Tupu masters and Toa Moana masters racing side by side over the next 10km with the mixed crew hard on their tails the whole way. Line honours went to NTV with second place going to Te Tupu masters with Toa Moana masters after 12km coming in third place.

The 8km race had a mix of crews with the Toa Moana master women, Te Mana under 14 boys, Gubu Gubi junior women and two mixed crews comprising of NTV men and Te Mana women and NTV/Te Tupu men and Aitutaki Oe Vaka and Toa Moana women.

The two mixed crews headed the race in a tight battle for most of the way with the under 14 crew close on their tails and the two women’s teams of Toa Moana and the Gubi Juniors fought for the final two spots.

Eventually it was the combination of NTV men and Te Mana women who came in first, with the NTV/Te Tupu/Aitutaki Oe Vaka/Toa Moana crew in second.

The Alan Maki Memorial Trophy donated by CICA was presented to Ngakau Toa team captain Fletcher Melvin by Alan’s daughter, Rirei Maki.

It was later noted that the winner’s plaque with ”2012 Winners NTV“ was already on the trophy.

Melvin mentioned he had one plaque made for each team inscribed ready to place on the trophy. Strange thing is no one got to see the other plaques!

That’s confidence for you!

Monday was a fun day of V6 and V1 racing over a short 250m sprint course and there the scores from Saturday’s race were settled with a number of the NTV and Te Tupu and Toa Moana men as well as the women and juniors all fighting it out in the V1 races.

The organizers of Maevatini 2012 would like to thank the following persons and companies for their support – Tamanu Beach, R&R Maki, T&S Artworks, Bergman and Sons, Pacific Resort Aitutaki, Araura Oe Vaka Association, The Aitutaki Business Association, Melo & Quinton Schofield, Poppy Doherty and Nga Maea.

Special thanks go to Rose Kareroa and her team from The Aitutaki Lagoon Resort and Spa for their support and assistance with set up and last but not least to Mr Steve Schofield for organising a sensational weekend of events.

Everyone’s efforts help rais $2,900 for the Gubi Gubi juniors.

All in all a fantastic weekend and the perfect way to remember and celebrate our mate Alan.

The memorial trophy will be battled for each Queen’s Birthday weekend at Maevatini and next year we hope to see more paddlers competing for this coveted trophy.