Vaka Eiva Muri sprints day

Vaka sprint day at Muri lagoon is a bit of light relief after the heavy-duty, long distance paddling that precedes and follows it.
It gives paddlers and supporters the chance to relax and enjoy the best beach on the island in between the all-out effort of racing. And as well as heats and finals in nine divisions there were novelty games and races to keep everyone entertained.
These included the best local dance contest for first time visitors and a relay race with a difference in which one person ran out to their partner standing in the lagoon, retrieved a piece of underwear (yes! those are pants and bras you can see being thrown at the end of the video) and splashed back to present it to the MC. It’s amazing how many people wearing swim trunks and bikinis have a piece of underwear to spare – as far as I can tell nobody risked arrest for indecent exposure!
The torrential rain around midday did nothing to dampen spirits. As the report in Cook Islands News said, “After all, the paddlers were going to get wet anyway and even the rain couldn’t dampen the party atmosphere at Muri which carried on late into the night.”