OCEANIA MASTERS ATHLETICS TAHITI - a report by Kate

Kate wrote this for her athletics club newsletter...hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did - Pete
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We arrived in a very hot and humid Papeete Tahiti at 0200 on the same day we left Australia. A Tahitian trio of ukelele players and a Tahitian woman handing fragrant flowers to disembarking passengers was a warm and pleasing welcome to the islands of French Polynesia. Once inside, more fragrant and multi-coloured flowers was placed around our necks.
Our hotel was close by, check in was swift and we were soon in bed and asleep.
The next morning was spent exploring the town of Papeete. There were flowers everywhere, with ukelele players sitting on street benches playing to themselves and anyone who was passing by. These two things seem to part of every day life here. Profusions of flowers in the markets, flowers in the wash rooms, flowers in the hair, flowers in corners of counters all kept fresh, discarded and replaced the moment they begin to wilt.
The Heiva cultural festival was on while we were there. Out-rigger canoe races were on. Crews of fit young men and women, teams from all islands dug their paddles in to race across the bay. This was like a long distant sprint and their bodies were honed, shining with sweat in the hot sun.
The heat and humidity continued and the afternoon of the opening ceremony day, the rain came down in buckets. It rained all afternoon and into the evening. We picked up the Cook Islanders on the way and they piled onto the bus,bubbling over with excitement, in beautiful uniforms, with crowns of flowers and leaves on their heads.
The opening ceremony was held under cover in the stadium with a performance by a band of ukelele players and drummers. Tahitian drums are strong, proud and loud. Their clean sound carries long distances.
A troup of young Tahitian dancers then walked out onto the track, the band started playing and a fantastic performance of Tahitian dance began including the tamure
which has the famous hip movement in it. Soon the athletes were invited to join them, (none did) but each member of the official party was selected by the dancers and bravely went down to do their bit.
At medal giving ceremonies, the drums were beaten as the athletes walked out and later when standing there we were encouraged to do a tamure.
There were about 280 competitors from 7 nations. Because of the very hot and humid weather, the longer races, cross country and half marathon and such, were held in the very early morning. The sprints were held at the end of the day when the sun was low and the track in shade. Field events were held during the day. The long events were held on the beautiful foreshore of Papeete. A long park flows around the bay and I dream of having such a thing in Hobart.
Sunday. Javelin was first up and that was my first event. I did not do well at all, but it was fun and I did work out my nervousness then.
Monday. 60m race was my next one. I came in 3rd, but there was only 0.07 secs between the 3 of us.
Tuesday. am. Long jump. I jumped quite well and won a silver.
pm. 100m. Third AGAIN!
Wednesday. pm. 200m. I won a silver medal. Then that was it for me.

During the medal ceremony that afternoon when an aged and solo man was standing up for his medal, he put on such a good tamure performance the medal presenter hopped up with him and they entertained us for several minutes. Way to go.
Damian and I spent the next day circumnavigating the island. Because the mountains are so steep with knife edge ridges, people live on the coast and the road hugs the waterfront. The farewell dinner was held that evening and once again with drums, ukeleles and dancers in spectacular costumes.
Friday we all piled onto the ferry for the 1/2 hr trip to Moorea a neighbouring island, and went to the beach. It was quite a day. We lay around on a grassy paddock beside the sand. Near by a class of school children were learning a kind of Haka. Later they got out the soccer ball and challenged the masters to a rough and tumble game of soccer. Meanwhile, two Polynesian women and a couple of children set a net just off the beach and hauled in a school of small fish which they washed in the sea, removed the head and back bone, put them in a bowl and squeezed over them the juice of a limon. They offered them to us after feeding some to their children. They were delicious just like that.
We piled back onto the bus all excited and happily tired, goodbyes said and headed for the ferry.
Damian and I spent the next day at the Tahiti museum watching some of the sporting events of the Heiva festival. Javelin for men. The target a coconut on a pole 10m from the ground, 25m from the thrower. At first the athletes stood in a large circle, and with much triumphant cheering, each was introduced and from which island he came. Then there was weight lifting for the women: the weight was a stone carved into a cylinder shape, maybe 30cm tall with quite a girth, which she lifted from the ground onto her shoulder and stood there with one arm outstretched while the other balanced the stone. The weights got heavier until all but one were eliminated. They looked very heavy to me.
There was the coconut game. Two teams of women, two large piles of coconuts, and one axe. The axe wielder split the coconuts and threw them into another pile while the rest of her team removed the flesh from the shell. When all were done, the flesh was put into a sack. The first to finish was the winner. It was a close finish and exciting to watch.
The next day Damian and I and our friends flew to the island of Raiatea and boarded our catamaran looking forward to a nice relaxing cruise via Tahaa to Bora Bora. We did lots of swimming and snorkelling and lying around reading.
I felt a bit lonely being the only Tasmanian in the competition, but over all we had a fantastic time and the Tahitians welcomed us warmly.