In a gut-busting endeavour, two Bay of Plenty women are this weekend attempting a 65km paddle – only ever completed by men.

Tomorrow morning Rebecca Boyce and Yvonne Roger will attempt to circumnavigate a 63km loop of Matakana Island in an OC1 – single outrigger canoe, and in record time.

Rebecca Boyce prepares to paddle around Matakana Island tomorrow. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Starting 8.30am at Sulphur Point boat ramp, the pair will make their way through the harbour to its Bowentown entrance before returning back to Tauranga along the front of Matakana, finishing at The Boat Expo on The Strand.

'About a year-and-a-half ago, I thought I wondered why no-one had done it. We are doing it for ourselves as Yvonne has an aunty living on the island and I‘m living locally,” says Rebecca.

'If we do it we will be the first women, which will be pleasing and the first to do it in a day.”

The testing loop sees the women paddle in a relay-style format, alternating every 15-20 minutes between the canoe and a support boat, in what is predicted to take up to six hours.

Rebecca has been involved in the sport for the last three seasons with Tauranga Moana Outrigger Canoe Club; while Yvonne, the Lakes District Health Board smokefree coordinator, is a waka ama veteran of eight years, with an illustrious medal haul of six bronze, four silver and seven gold medals at national level.

'It's going to be a lot of fun and we have a lot of confidence in each other and our abilities,” say the pair.

For the ladies, the event is a perfect training run for the 65km Kaiwi Channel relay in Hawaii next May. Starting at the island of Molokai, teams cross the Kaiwi Channel to Oahu – in 'challenging conditions”.

'It's one of those races that people will think they need to do, and it will be my first internationally. So why not make it a big one?” says Rebecca.

'This will be the first time any of our team will be paddling in these waters. We are independent, strong and healthy. And we'll be representing the wahine [women] of Aotearoa [New Zealand] in this exciting event.”

To follow the women, visit: www.wahinetoamaori.weebly.com