In spite of having had two nights at sea and limited sleep, we were very much up for the Heiva festival and, on the afternoon we arrived, some gruelling races took place a short walk from the marina.  These involved traditionally dressed folk carrying large stalks of bananas or root vegetables attached with natural fibres at both ends of a wooden stick or bamboo stick measuring between 1.2 and 1.5 metres.

There were 4 different kinds of race:

-          The women’s race with a weight of 15 kilos

-          The junior race with a weight of 20 kilos

-          The master or veteran race with a weight of 30 kilos

-          The warrior race with a weight of 50 kilos

The women had to run 1,000 metres and the men 1,300 metres.  After the race the loads of the first 5 were verified and competitors should not have lost more than 1 kilo during the race.  This way of transporting fruit is still used in Tahiti, especially during the harvesting of oranges in June on the West Coast. 

It’s best to let the pictures do the talking...

Competitors waiting before the race; there’s no mistaking we’re in Polynesia:

After the racing we were treated to a wonderful spectacle performed by a group from the Marquesas Islands: