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One of the best loved activities at this
year’s The Million Dollar Round Table Foundation SummerFest
2004 was outrigger canoeing at Mother’s Beach. Outrigger
canoeing is a magnificent sport that can be easily adapted
to meet the individual needs of people with a wide range of
physical disabilities, including spinal cord injury, brain
injury, cerebral palsy, amputations, multiple sclerosis, and
visual impairment.
This year, for the first time, a 500-meter
exhibition race for paddlers with disabilities is included
in the V12 division of the 2004 IVF (International Outrigger
Canoe Federation) Hilo World Sprints, being held in
Hawaii the week of August 9-15. Teams competing in this exhibition
race are comprised of three men with disabilities, three women
with disabilities, three able-bodied men, and three able-bodied
women, paddling together in two six-person canoes. Hulled
together, the crafts form a Va’a 12, the Hawaiian term
for outrigger canoe. The demo race is an important first step
on the path to qualify outrigger canoeing as a Paralympic
sport.
Before outrigger canoeing can make it to
the Paralympics, the sport must be widely practiced on three
different continents. This effort is underway, according to
Jan Whitaker, adaptive paddling chairman for the United States
Canoe Association. Jan, who is leading the worldwide Paralympic
push for the sport, noted, “The exhibition race at Hilo
World Sprints is significant because it will showcase the
ability of paddlers with disabilities and inspire, educate,
and motivate countries and territories around the world to
enter new teams in future races, further promoting the acceptance
of outrigger canoeing as a Paralympic sport.”
As Jan explained, “Hawaii, mainland
USA, and Italy have already formed teams that have signed
on to compete in the exhibition race, and Canadian coaches,
who participated in SummerFest 2004, are working  to
form a team and secure funding for their participation.”
Her goal is to see outrigger canoeing included
in the Paralympics during her lifetime. “The challenge
for paddlers with disabilities isn’t reaching the finish
line,” Jan says, paraphrasing one athlete with a disability.
“The challenge is getting to the starting line. Thanks
to the Hilo World Sprints organizing committee, teams of paddlers
with disabilities will write a new chapter in the history
of sport when they take their places on the starting line
in the prestigious world championship for the first time.”
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