20 years of Watermana: the Story behind the Toughest Waterman Event on the Planet!

From December 25 to December 1, 2019 the 20th edition of Watermana  will take place on Huahine, French Polynesia. This event is more than a competition. It is a personal challenge taken up by watermen and waterwomen who will push themselves to their limits each day in a series of undisclosed events, of which you will be able to follow on TotalSUP, official partner of the event. Founder Stéphan Lambert reviews the evolution of the Watermana, a personal and sporting journey that has not been without pitfalls.

Hello Stephan, how does it feel to have created an event that reaches its 20th anniversary this year?

Hi friends, it’s hard to believe that the Watermana is 20 years old. I say this because each year the Watermana has continued to evolve with new challenges and new disciplines. The race locations, the distances and the courses change so much, as does the concept, it never gets old. The goal has always been to create an ephemeral event in the sense that each edition is unique, in order to avoid comparisons, times. It means that participants always come back for what feels a first time experience, and they are still surprised.

How has the concept evolved in 20 years?

Watermana was born on Bora Bora in 1998. Bora Bora is the pearl of the Pacific, it was there that the seed “Go deeper” in the events was planted. The setting and the number of 5-star hotels were perfect for creating an extraordinary event. The first edition was a va’a race (note: Tahitian canoe). We decided to award bonus points for each pass on the beach of a hotel and a final jackpot on arrival. So it was a very strategic race, either you were going to get the bonus, or you were aiming for the final jackpot. The idea was good, the va’a rowers thought it was great. Unfortunately, nobody showed up on the start line. For good reasons, the presidents of the local clubs weren’t happy that the event wasorganized by a private entity, and that foreigners would come to French Polynesia and interfere in their sport. They therefore asked their paddlers not to participate in this race. It meant that I raced alone “3, 2, 1, GO!” won hands down this first edition!

But then I discovered how to work with those in French Polynesia. In early 1999, I went to Tahiti to meet the president of the Tahitian Federation of Va’a, Édouard Maamaatuaiahutapu, who was also at the the origin of Hawaiki Nui Va’a (note: the largest Polynesian canoe race). He said to me, “Go on, go for it, that’s good, we’ll put this race on the official calendar and it will end the year!” That’s how I gained the support of the presidents of the Local clubs and the federation. I already had the support of the athletes because the challenge challenged them in an environment where their races were formatted.

Thus at the end of 1999, IRONMANA (the former name of our event) was born. It started with a 35 KM race which for the time was 10 KM more than the local va’a hoe races (note: Tahitian for V1 or Va’a individual) generally put in place. But that was the goal: to go further, to go farther, deeper and learn that ultimately the only opponent to fight, the most formidable fight that is with oneself, and for their effort there was a excellent prize purse.

Each year, the course has evolved around Bora Bora, distances and premiums have steadily increased. It was a race for “taravanas”, lunatics in Tahitian. For those who questioned the competition or the concept I would respond that the one who was crazy was the one who thought they could not do it!  We have now grown from one participant in 1998 to more than 150 participants. The distances have grown gradually from 35 KM to 62 KM solo and the prize money to more than 4 million Pacific francs rewards. The sponsors also adhered to the principle that with each year more kilometers are requested from athletes, so more prize money is should be rewarded to  them.

In terms of athletes, some of them were clearly participating in the Ironmana for the bonuses because it was unheard of to be able to earn so much money in a single race, but believe me they knew they would deserve it. Only a very small number of the greatest paddlers could win one or more of the Ironmana editions. The first was Rene Aveipii, there was also Lewis Laughlin, Manutea Owen, Georges Cronsteadt who were the only ones won all the bonuses of the course and the final jackpot! Kamehameha Tamarii, a paddler from Bora Bora, also had his moment of glory in 2012, Steeve Teihotaata won the last Ironmana Bora Bora Vaa hoe on a course of 62 KM at 12 KM / h average … with these stats we felt an alien had just been born!

Since 2009, the Ironmana has gradually opened to other disciplines. First of all, we integrated Paddleboarding (prone), which I was the only participant for years, then we integrated swimming, then surfski, then stand up paddle and finally the sailing canoe. Which allowed us to host our International VIPs and offer them a channel crossing between Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa and finally Bora Bora, this was a 400 KM warm-up. Then we moved into the Liquide Festival, a week of aquatic events. So what started as a Va’a hoe race, the Ironmana has developed over time into the BORA BORA Liquide Festival, incorporating the spirit of waterman. This new format enabled us to attract the best athletes in the world.

What is with the name?

As the race grew, so did the importance and the interest. There was a lot of prize money at stake. At the time I was behaving like a free electron, uncontrollable, so this meant there was a lot of jealousy around. So, in 2013, the Bora Bora va’a  finally banned the right to organize this event, with Va’a hoe incorporated, this was because it was not set up by an association affiliated to the Tahitian Federation of Va’a but by a private entity accused of doing business with va’a, this was the moment sports and politics collided.

At the end of 2014, I left Bora Bora and developed the waterman concept on Tahiti. At the beginning of 2015, I then launched the WATERMAN TAHITI TOUR, a five-stage championship that served as preparation before the final round, the most difficult one, the IRONMANA, which acted as a season finale at the end of the year. The famous French sports newspaper, “L’équipe” took notice and featured our event in their pages

Shortly after I received an email sent from the lawyer who manages the interests of the famous brand IRONMAN informing me I had to quickly change the name of my event, because the company he represented had the rights on all the derivatives of IRON. So the name IRONMANA died, and the name WATERMANA came alive. From 2016 the event settled on Huahine, the island of the last warriors. An idyllic setting, two islands in the same lagoon, enough to create new courses and concept for many more years so we can see this seed GO DEEPER and continue to sprout.