Oscar Chalupsky wins Te Toa Nui Race (Tahiti)
Rob Mousley - SurfSki.info and Oscar Chalupsky / 11.11.2008
Te Toa Nui\" means \"The Great Warrior\" - singularly apt in view of the fact that right now Oscar Chalupsky weighs in at 108kg!
The big man has been training for two weeks, has lost 8kg in that time and is aiming to be 100kg on the dot by the time he reaches Dubai.
Chalupsky is famous (notorious?) for getting out of shape in the off-season and then shedding the extra kilos in frenetic training before a big event.
With Day One\'s result, he showed that he\'s well on the way...
Hot & Flat
Few would have thought Chalupsky had any hope in Tahiti - especially when it became clear that he wasn\'t going to be enjoying his favorite downwind conditions. Saturday\'s 17km first leg of the inaugural Volvic Epic Kayaks Te Toa Nui event was held in flat, hot (30C) conditions with very little wind.
Pre-race Haka
A dance troupe from the Marquesas Islands performed a pre-race Haka and the race started shortly afterwards.
When the race started it seemed that the Haka (a ancient traditional dance performed before battle to rouse the warriors\' blood) had inspired the local paddlers...
\"The leader started out at about 17km/h,\" said Chalupsky. \"I simply couldn\'t hold onto him.\"
Eventually he blew and Chalupsky caught him. Realizing that the real danger was likely to come from Lewis Laughlin, Chalupsky looked around to find him and Leopold Tepa slightly behind and to one side. By the time Chalupsky had worked his way across to cover Laughlin, he\'d fallen about 50m behind.
Working his way past Tepa, Chalupsky found himself neck and neck with Laughlin.
SleepMonsters
