Imonen, Tennant win Honolulu International Triathlon

By Mike Tymn
Special to The Advertiser

Brent Imonen couldn't remember the last time that he had won a local triathlon.

"I guess it's been a couple of years," he said after winning the Honolulu International Triathlon yesterday morning by nearly 11 minutes. "I've been out of things healthwise, but I'm moving forward. I look at this win as positive momentum."

Imonen, a 32-year-old professional triathlete from Kailua, Kona, Hawai'i, finished the 1,500-meter swim, 55-kilometer bike ride, and 15-kilometer run, ending at Kapi'olani Park, in 2 hours, 45 minutes, 40 seconds. Chris Tang, 29, was second in 2:56:25. Raul Boca, 36, finished third in 2:58:18.

Finishing eighth overall, Deirdre Tennant, 29, won the women's race in 3:02:37. Brigitte Egbert, 30, was second in 3:10:20, while Tina Eakin, 30, crossed third in a time of 3:12:51.

Even though her winning margin was nearly eight minutes, Tennant said she never felt confident.

"I was kind of paranoid the whole race," she said. "I didn't really know how much of a lead I had. It's hard to keep track of where everyone is."

With 190 competitors, including 30 from Japan, the event got underway shortly after 7 a.m. at Sans Souci Beach.

Imonen was out of the water in 15:31, while Tennant was second to surface in 16:09. Imonen and Tennant added to their leads on the bike, as Imonen started the run at Kapi'olani Park some three minutes ahead of Boca, and Tennant began her run 4 1/2 minutes in front of Egbert.

Tang overtook Boca in the transition from bike to run. Boca then held off a strong challenge by Joe Zwack, who had moved up to fourth place off the bike.

"I worked the swim against the current," said Imonen, who suffered a shoulder separation after crashing on his bike in a Mainland triathlon last year. "I sort of experimented with positioning on the bike, but I was going as hard as I could. I stayed within myself on the run, though,"

Imonen, a four-time winner of the Tinman Triathlon, is looking ahead to competing in that event again July 15. His last victory in the race was in 1997.

"I started to hurt a little at the end of the run, but I felt pretty good for most of the race," said Tennant, a former conference champion swimmer at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, and now a pre-physical therapy student at the University of Hawai'i.

Eakin, one of the last to finish the swim, moved into fourth at the end of the bike segment, then overtook Lindsey Price midway into the run for the show spot.

Year-for-year, the best performance of the day may have been turned in by 48-year-old Cliff Rigsbee, who finished seventh in 3:02:15.