By Mike Tymn
Special to The Advertiser
It takes most endurance athletes a race or two before they fully adapt to Hawai‘i’s humidity and are able to compete successfully here. However, that wasn’t the case with Clint Trocchio, who won yesterday’s 27th Magic Island Biathlon.
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| Clint Trocchio said humidity was not a factor in yesterday's race. |
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| Susan Burr ran both before and after the event. |
"This was nothing compared to Corpus Christi (Texas), where I just came from," said Trocchio, a 25-year-old Coast Guard pilot, who arrived here two weeks ago for a tour of duty. "The conditions were ideal."
Trocchio was surprised to find that he had won the event, not realizing that several participants who finished ahead of him were on relay teams. Trocchio completed the 2.5-mile run and 1,000-meter swim in 31 minutes, 14 seconds, for a four-second victory over 15-year-old Tatsuya Kobayashi.
Susan Burr, 31, was third overall in 31:25 to easily win the women’s race. June McLain, 39, was second in 34:05, followed by Jeaneen Heldt, 39, in 36:04.
The biathlon began at Ala Moana Park at 7:30 a.m. with 170 entrants. Joshua Keena, competing as part of a relay team, set the pace for the first mile, but Eric Stabb, another relay team member, overtook him on the second mile and was the first to finish the run in 12 minutes, 14 seconds.
Trocchio was well back, finishing in 21:53, with Kobayashi right behind him. Trocchio, who competed in swimming at the Coast Guard Academy, made up the deficit in the water. He overtook about 20 athletes to finish in 9:21.
"I was just swimming hard," he said. "I had no idea where I was or how many swimmers I was passing."
Kobayashi clocked 9:18 for the swim. Kevin Murphy, 32, was more than seven minutes ahead of Trocchio and Kobayashi starting the swim, but needed 17:24 to complete the swim and finished third among the men.
The biathlon was part of a longer training session for Burr, a biologist for the state who is preparing for the South Africa Ironman at the end of March. She ran to the park from her home in Manoa and then set out for a 16-mile run shortly after finishing the swim.
"It’s hard to do these short ones when you are training for the Ironman distance," said Burr, who was Hawai‘i’s top female finisher in the Kona Ironman in October. She finished 18th among the women while also winning her age division in that event.
Anuschika Faucci teamed with Stabb to win the relay in 30:53, edging William Gardner and Leif Johnson by about four seconds.
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