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With only two and a half weeks to King of the Harbour 2008, excitement amongst the local paddling community is hotting up!
 Mike Walker at King of the Harbour 2007
Online race entry closes at midnight (NZ time) 27th
March so if you know anyone else interested in racing King of the Harbour 2008
please encourage them to enter ASAP. Strictly NO entries will be accepted on
the day!
Please also note that there has been some time changes
made to the race programme as daylight savings has had to be taken into
consideration for tides etc. Please see the website for all updates.
Local paddlers have started to enter online and there are promising international numbers on the horizon. Current world no 1 women's Surfski World Series paddler Katie Pocock is excited to maintain her 6 year domination of the women's category, while Mike Walker, previous King of the Harbour champion and currently Beijing bound for flatwater kayaking, is the hot contender to take out the men's category and overall champion position. Last years winner, Dawid Mocke from South Africa has yet to enter so who will challenge Mike is at this stage anyone's guess! [Editor: Australian Tim Jacobs has entered, I've had confirmation that Nicholas Holt, Caine Eckstein and Jeremy Cotter will also be travelling to Auckland. South African Ian Gray - currently 12th ranked in the world will be there too.]
With the King of the Harbour doubling as the inaugural Takapuna Boating Club's Surfski Champs, there is also a lot of friendly rivalry amongst club members with many of the local paddlers trying to squeeze in a few extra training sessions a week to increase their odds! Takapuna Boating Club also hosted the Canoe Racing New Zealand Surfski National Champs on the weekend , which gave the paddlers a chance to suss each other out over a 16km race. Simon McLaren took out the overall title at the Champs and Katie Pocock once again was unchallenged amongst the women's field, and even place high overall amongst some of the country's top male paddlers. It's clear to see why she is currently the worlds no 1!
 Katie Pocock and Paul Wilford in Durban 2007 (Pic: Gavin Searle)
For the first time, King of the Harbour is proud to be host to a number of new international paddlers. To date they have one paddler from France, one from Tahiti, two from Australia and one from Spain already registered, with word on a number of other Tahitians, Aussies and possible South Africans making plans. This increase in international interest in King of the Harbour from counties other than New Zealand's usual tri-nation counterparts is most likely due to the new King of the Harbour website. Event Director, Kirsty Elmiger says, "A dedicated event website was the key to growing the event as most people are internet savvy these days and as an event organiser you can reach a far wider audience through a website". This certainly seems to be the case as the range of international entries is quite impressive compared to previous years.
 Mike Walker pulling Dawid Mocke - King of the Harbour 2007 (Pic: Sportzhub)
Although its been a challenge for King of the Harbour to secure major sponsors this year in the couple of months since December when she took over the event, new event organiser Kirsty Elmiger, on behalf of Takapuna Boating Club, has had to pull the event together in a short 4 months and she has already secured over $10,000 worth of sponsored product for spot prizes which will make for a great prize giving. Kirsty adds that, "...many companies are eager to join the King of the Harbour team of sponsors but the unfortunate time frame I had to work with has meant end of financial years and allocated budgets - however many have make promising commitments towards 2009 so things are certainly looking up for the future of the event. I will continue to seek new sponsors and welcome any support we can get."
 Paul Wilford putting effort it! - 2006
Prize money is at this stage highly dependant on the number of entries as the majority of entry fees is being put towards prize money this year. Although the entry fees are a bit higher than previous years the event is still incredible value for money. "The $150 entry fee for the long distance 28km course and the $100 entry fee for the short distance 8km course includes a hi visibility race vest worth $35 and a gourmet meal at Wildfire Restaurant in Takapuna during the prize giving function worth $35 per head," Kirsty says, "The remainder is to go to cash prizes so paddlers keen to compete in this years King of the Harbour are encouraged to enter online as soon as possible to both increase the prize money pool and make the organisers life a little easier for planning purposes."
For more information and to enter online visit http://www.kingoftheharbour.co.nz/ or contact Kirsty Elmiger directly at
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