(Randy Botti-KPUA Special)The 2004 International Va`a Federation Hilo World Sprints concluded on Sunday August 15th after five days of racing by over 1800 competitors from 23 countries and regions. The sprints included 349 individual races in 44 events.

Sundays events included the V-1 solo canoe and the V-6 canoe finals. The finals for the V-12 double hull canoes were held on Saturday. Tahiti dominated, winning 52 medals of the available 105 medals, 28 of them gold medal first place victories. Hawaii accumulated 38 total medals (19 from Hawaii Island crews), nine of them gold.

The event was at times brought to a standstill by computer problems, misinterpretation of the race progressions and protests filed by various teams concerning issues such as improper lane assignments or race result issues. Despites the delays, the final race concluded within 30 minutes of the scheduled time.

The closing ceremonies and award presentation were held at the Edith Kanaka`ole Tennis stadium where competitors were very complimentary about the event as a whole. and the hospitality provided by Hilo. The 2006 IVF World Sprints will be held at Lake Karapiro New Zealand, March 16-21, 2006. Lake Karapiro is south of Hamilton New Zealand.

Full results of the 2004 World Sprints can be found at the site of the 2006 World Sprints

All photos below by Randy Botti..

Races from Day #1

The canoes lay waiting early in the morning, ready for some action. And they'll get it. Nearly 90 races are scheduled each day.

New Caldedonia and Team Hawaii board their canoes at Hilo's bayfront.

The "officials meeting" under the tent early to make sure everythings in place. These meetings will happen several times throughout the races.

"Say what?" The 16 Junior girls realize their race is postponed. Only until tomorrow though.

There go the teams in the Open Men's division in one of the earlier races of the day.

For more information about the 2004 IVF Hilo World Sprints, go to KEKUA.ORG