Posted on: Tuesday, September 3, 2002

Californians win top spots in Waikiki Roughwater

By Mike Tymn
Special to The Advertiser

Signs along the beach at Waikiki cautioned swimmers about jellyfish. But Alex Kostich and Dawn Heckman did not heed the warning in swimming with almost reckless abandon in winning the 33rd annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim yesterday morning.

"My main concern was getting beat up at the start," said Kostich, a 32-year-old advertising executive from Los Angeles, who won the 2.4-mile race from San Souci Beach to Duke Kahanamoku Beach, in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village, by nearly three minutes, with a time of 43 minutes, 46 seconds.

"I did get knocked around a little, but I managed to get out of it early," he added, referring to the thrashing of the other swimmers. South African Ryk Neethling, 24, edged Punahou sophomore Noa Sakamoto, 16, for second, 46:32 to 46:35.

It was a much closer race among the women as Heckman, 25, also from Los Angeles, edged 44-year-old Suzanne Heim-Bowen of Walnut Creek, Calif., by just three seconds. Finishing seventh overall, Heckman recorded 47:06.

"I had no idea where I was," Heckman said. "I didn't know I was the first woman until I stood up on the beach and heard people yelling. Then, I turned around and saw the other woman right behind me."

Laureen Welting, 36, from San Francisco, was third, nearly three minutes behind Heim-Bowen.

With 845 registered swimmers, the race got under way at 9 a.m. By the time the leaders reached the first buoy, about 700 yards out, Kostich, who also won the race in 1994, had already built up a commanding lead.

"Alex just took off," said Neethling, a 1996 Olympian. "I just let him go."

To the spectators on the beach at the finish, it appeared to be a four-man race with about 300 yards remaining, as Neethling, Sakamoto, Michael Ormsby and Darryl Johnson matched strokes.

Well to the right of the others — and well ahead of them — Kostich, hidden by the waves, emerged from the breakwater about 200 yards out.

"I came prepared: hair cut, body shaved, and ready to swim," said Kostich, a former Stanford All-American who was competing in the event for the 10th time. Last year, he set the pace for more than half of the race, but finished fifth. His winning time in 1994 was 53:08.

"No, I'm definitely not getting faster, just wiser with experience," Kostich said when it was pointed out that he was nearly 10 minutes faster this year. The current plays a big part in the times and was much more favorable yesterday than it was in 1994.

Kostich recorded 42:59 in finishing second to Darren Turner of Australia in 1993. Turner's time of 42:38 was a record. That mark was lowered to 42:13 by Daniel McLellan, another Australian, in 1995. The women's record of 45:33 was also set that year, by Lisa Hazen of Sunnyvale, Calif.

While Heckman, a former University of Florida All-American, wasn't aware of her competition, Heim-Bowen said that it was a three-woman race until the turn for the finish, some 850 yards out, when Welting began falling behind. When asked how a woman her age manages to remain competitive, Heim-Bowen said she is "training smarter."

At 45, local swimmer Rich Heltzel, who won the 1984 race, finished 12th in 48:40. Another impressive age-class effort was turned in by 55-year-old Bob Momsen of Kamuela, 36th overall in 50:28.