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Jahn Pomare-Karetai, 14, goes big on technique in the mānu competition at Te Pou Toetoe: Linwood Pool on Sunday.
Water is dripping from the ceiling and sloshing out of the dedicated mānu pool at Christchurch’s Te Pou Toetoe: Linwood Pool.
Jahn Pomare-Karetai has just performed a high-scoring mānu or bomb, which has sent water flying for metres in all directions.
The 14-year-old is one of almost 20 people who took part in the Linwood Pool heats on Sunday as part of a mānu competition held at the Christchurch City Council’s indoor and outdoor pools this summer.
It is not just about the biggest splash, judges are also looking for three things – the height of the splash, the size of the splash and technique, which includes tricks before entering the water.
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Crystal-Lee Kapa touches down in the mānu pool at Te Pou Toetoe: Linwood Pool.
Jahn, who was giving his aunt tips before she competed in the open female section, admitted doing a mānu sometimes hurt, but only if you did not get the angle right when hitting the water.
Most competitors walked out of the pool with red backs.
Mraz Hingano, 13, has been practising down at the pool all week leading up to the competition, and it paid off as his splash also hit the pool ceiling, many metres above.
Another competitor Crystal-Lee Kapa, 32, said she had been doing mānu for years but this was the first time she had entered a competition.
ALDEN WILLIAMS/Stuff
Mraz Hingano, 13, launches off the mānu board.
“Mānu should be an Olympic sport.”
She was now even teaching her kids, who were 4 and 5, how to do a mānu.
They are all competing for the top trophy, which will be awarded at the grand final at Jellie Park on February 12.
ALDEN WILLIAMS/Stuff
Judges Brooke Williams, left, Logan Foster and Ryan Crosbie give some big scores.
Ryan Crosbie, a council aquatics supervisor who runs the mānu competition, said the event had grown in popularity over the past three years.
Linwood Pool opened in 2021, and features a 25-metre lane pool, the 2.4m deep-water mānu pool, a family spa pool, a learn-to-swim pool, and a pool for toddlers.
There are also basketball and tennis courts, a barbecue and picnic area, and a mini skate park outside.
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