HURDLE RACING IN CANOES 



A Thrilling and Spectacular Sport Among the Maoris 



of New Zealand 



By Walter Burke 



THE title of this article sounds like 

 a fairy tale; yet hurdle racing in 

 canoes is a highly developed sport 

 among the New Zealand Alaoris. 



Two or three things are necessary for 

 the sport : First, the canoes must be dug- 

 outs. The dainty canoes so popular on 

 the American lakes and rivers and the 

 beautiful birch-barks of the Canadian 

 voyageurs would be too fragile, crump- 

 ling up like matchwood at the first hurdle. 



A swift-running river is also desirable, 

 in order that the crews may have the help 

 of the increased speed given by the cur- 

 rent to carry the centers of the canoes 

 over the hurdle. This is an important 

 consideration, as can be seen from the 

 photographs. And the contestants must 

 be good swimmers. As every Maori — 

 man, woman, or child — is, there is no risk 

 of drowning, even in the roughest water. 



One sees the game at its very best at 

 Ngaruawahia, a village in the North 

 Island, a little south of Auckland, on the 

 seventeenth of March in any year — St. 

 Patrick's Day. 



At this point the Waikato, one of the 

 finest rivers in the Dominion, widens out 

 and sweeps round a bend to meet another 

 branch. The river carries a great volume 

 of water, draining an enormous water- 

 shed in the center of the island, including 

 Lake Taupo, into which some thirty 

 streams discharge. The Waikato plunges 

 over the Huka Falls, a miniature Ni- 

 agara, below which are the Aratiatia 

 RajMds, quite impassable for any boat. 

 It is at this point that it is proposed to 

 generate sufficient electricity to run the 

 railway system of the North Island. 



Prior to the day, the Maoris collect 

 from all the adjacent territory, bringing 

 with them their prize canoes, each dug 

 out of the trunk of a tree. Some of these 

 boats are large enough to carry a crew of 

 from thirty to more than forty paddlers. 

 These are not for hurdling, however ! 



The secret — more or less — trials pro- 

 ceed ; training is keen and hard ; the bet- 

 ting heavy, for most Maoris are well-to- 

 ,do and are keen sportsmen, willing to 

 gamble on anything, from *'fly loo'' to a 

 horse-race ! The excitement progresses 

 till the eventful day, when special trains 

 bring immense numbers of Maoris and 

 Pakehas (white people) from far and 

 near. 



The program includes many and varied 

 events, but the great attraction is the 

 hurdle racing, just as the steeplechase 

 attracts the eager crowd at a turf event. 

 Of course, in saying this, I am not belit- 

 tling the excitement over the big canoe 

 races. There is not the fun in these, 

 however, as there are no accidents, while 

 the hurdle racing is one continuous series 

 of them — a spill at practically each hur- 

 dle, of which there are usually three or 

 four. 



Unless the bow of the canoe is well out 

 of the water, it cannot take the hurdle, 

 which is from twelve to eighteen inches 

 above the surface. The object is to get 

 up such speed that when the bow slides 

 on to the hurdle the smooth and well- 

 greased bottom will continue to glide till 

 past the center of gravity, when the mem- 

 bers of the crew run forward and their 

 weight causes the bow to go down with a 

 ''flop" and the stern slides off. The bow 

 usually dips under and partly fills the 

 canoe with water, which is removed by 

 rocking or is splashed out with the aid 

 of the flat of the paddle. 



This is the program when all goes well! 

 And it will probably happen when one 

 canoe can shoot away from the others 

 and negotiate the first hurdle alone. But 

 usually about four or five canoes come 

 down almost simultaneously, the crews 

 yelling like fiends, and there is a thrilling 

 mix up, from which the brainiest crew, 

 with the best of luck, gets out of the ruck 

 and away. 



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