Congratulations to our Taumutu men on their gold medal waka ama win. Adrian Tukaki (second from the right) is the nephew of Malcolm Wards (Wards whānau) who now lives in Tauranga and is a former Crusader from the original 1995 team). Craig, Adrian, Todd and Iaean have been paddling together for 15 years in the same crew and have paddled with their other team mates – Ross and Jack (from Christchurch) and Todd (from Motueka) for 7-8 years.
Gold Medallist winners from left: Iaean Cranwell (Wairewa), Jack Wormald, Craig Pauling (Taumutu), Todd Jago (Ngāti Raukawa), Adrian Tukaki (Taumutu) and Ross Gilray.