Samoan hospitality and culture have left a big impression on the Canadian paddling team, one of 35 countries and territories participating in the International Vaa Federation World Distance Championship.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, one of the Canadian outrigger team's managers, Leanne Stanley said aside from their high spirits to compete, Samoa has already made a friendly reminder that every country in the world is a friend and a competition is just a competition.

"It's been fantastic a lot of the teams have come over in over the past week or so and a lot of them have had the chance to tour around the island, it's been absolutely wonderful and beautiful and we've enjoyed our time here so much," she said. "The people have been so helpful and friendly, when people had gotten lost and needed a hand, they were helped with a warm welcome."

The Canadian team arrived two weekends ago and for most members of the team, this is their first time in Samoa.

Ms. Stanley was asked what she thought was the most interesting part of the official opening on Saturday, she said it was the cultural dancing performed by students from the Don Bosco college.

"That's phenomenal. One, the number of people, it's always amazing to see kids come together and work together like that, the future of our sport is right there," she said. "Ultimately we're here to see friends that we haven't seen in a number of years from other countries and together this year to paddle together with the rest of the world.

"Ultimately we'd like to go fast but being on the water with our friends from around the world and competing against the fastest in the world and hopefully we come out on top but we'd like a competition."

Ms. Stanley helps coordinate and coach the team. The youngest paddlers in the Canadian team are 19 years of age while the oldest are over 75. 

"We've got a wide range of paddlers, we've got people that have come into the sport relatively recently and we've got people that have been paddling for over 50 years," she explained. "We've also got people that have high-performance worth in a number of world competitions before and we've got some who are at their first world championship. 

"I'm really excited for the people for whom this is the first world championship and to come somewhere this beautiful to Samoa to experience something like this."

For this international competition, the Canadian team of 64 paddlers aim to hopefully claim glory for their country. However, they said the experience and warm hospitality from the host is already a win for them.

"Thank you so much to the country of Samoa for having us and for welcoming us and we're excited to be here," she said.