It's paradise for runners of cross country
By Casey McGuire-Turcotte
Special to The Advertiser
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| Hawai'i runners will get to compete with some of the nation's best Saturday.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser What: Fourth annual Iolani Cross Country Invitational Where: Kualoa Ranch When: Saturday Age Divisions: Intermediate, open, high school and collegiate Team highlights: High school—Long Beach Poly (Calif.), Gunn (Calif.), Bingham (Utah), Crescent Valley (Ore.) College—Oklahoma St., 15th-ranked UCLA, San Diego State, U.S. Naval Academy, Occidental College (Calif.), Mt. SAC (Calif.) Race Schedule: 10:30—Intermediate girls (2 miles) 10:55—Intermediate boys (2 miles) 11:20—Girls Open (2 miles) 11:45—Boys Open (3.1 miles) 12:15—Awards 1:45—HS Girls Varsity (3.1 miles) 2:30—HS Boys Varsity (3.1 miles) 3:15—Collegiate Women (3.1 miles) 3:45—Collegiate Men (3.1 miles) 4:15—Awards\ |
But Saturday's Invitational at Kualoa Ranch will be unlike any meet Hawai'i has ever seen.Ê
The event will be an all-day cross country "festival," with nearly 1,200 intermediate and high school runners and another 200 collegiate athletes, competing in eight races throughout the day.
"Our goal wasn't to be different, just to do something well," said Paul Shinkawa, meet organizer and brainchild of the event.
Thirty-six high school teams from the Mainland, Hawai'i and New Zealand are expected.
Another 17 college teams will participate, including Oklahoma State, the U.S. Naval Academy, the 15th-ranked UCLA women's team, and the Hawai'i colleges.
The University of Hawai'i's Big Wave Invitational, which had been looking to offer more races at its meet in Kane'ohe, chose to combine with the Iolani meet this year.
"We figured rather than reinvent the wheel, we'd jump on board with a meet that already has the infrastructure in place," UH head cross country coach Carmyn James said.
The resulting meet will be the largest ever held in Hawai'i.
"This was Paul's vision," said Iolani girls cross country coach Greg Char. "He knew this meet could be something special, and has worked non-stop to make it happen."
Char, Shinkawa, meet director Cyrus Tamashiro, Iolani boys coach Jim Rubasch and others spent most of last year promoting the meet across the country. They advertised on several popular California track Web sites, and sent letters of invitation to every state champion in the country.
They found that its list of past winners was quite a selling point.
For three years in a row, beginning with Punahou graduate Victoria Chang in 1999, the winner of the girls' varsity race at the Iolani Cross Country Invitational has gone on to win the coveted Footlocker Cross Country National Championship.
"It's kind of a good luck event," Shinkawa said. "It was a great way to kick off the season."
Nike and the Outrigger Ohana Hotels now sponsor the event, and several powerhouse high schools, including Gunn of Northern California and Bingham of Utah, will be here.
Reporters from Maryland, Florida and California have been assigned to the meet.
Char said this is a great opportunity for local athletes to take their running to the next level.
"Some schools can afford to send their teams to the Mainland, but most can't," he said. "This meet will bring that competition here for everyone."
The University of Hawai'i coaches are looking forward to the exposure the meet will bring their program.
"Most local athletes don't even know what the UH uniforms look like," UH associate head coach Andy McInnis said. "We want to show them that opportunities exist for them to keep running here after high school, and to be a part of this great meet for a long time."
All sides agree that while producing a quality meet is top priority, the event is about more than just racing.
"These kids will remember this for the rest of their lives," said Shinkawa, whose daughter, Kristen, ran for Iolani until her graduation last year.
"This is a chance to experience the aloha spirit. All the work and effort aside, we just want people to leave here happy that they came."
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