Thousands hit Lake Karapiro for national Waka Ama champs

The national Waka Ama Sprint Champs competition is underway on Lake Karapiro.

Thousands of paddlers from midgets through to masters are competing in what is one of New Zealand's fastest growing water sports.

1300 teams with 3300 paddlers have all registered for the competition.

The 29th annual competition will see six days of action, however organisers say the event could get longer if more teams register in the coming years.

Lara Collins, who is one of organisers, says "there's potential for us to start earlier Monday morning, have the powhiri on Sunday. Those sort of things so we've got a lot of room up our sleeves to allow it to grow more." 

This year also sees teams and paddlers competing to qualify for the 2018 World Champs held in Tahiti.

It's going to be a tough competition for the Waka Ama teams.