Fruit Carrier Race - Heiva i Tahiti 2015

Check out the highlights from the Fruit Carrier Race as part of the Heiva of the Tu’aro Ma’ohi, as part of the Heiva i Tahiti Festival this year!

The weekend of traditional Polynesian sports includes javelin throwing, stone lifting, coconut shelling, coconut tree climbing, and fruit carrier race.

Rubbed with monoi (coconut oil) and simply dressed in a pareu in the purest Tahitian tradition, competitors run a two-km race with two loads of fruits fixed on either end of a bamboo stick.

The race tests the athletes' speed, agility and endurance, and pays homage to the traditional transportation method still used to this day during their harvest time in June.