HPU athlete rolls to Pineapple win
By Casey McGuire-Turcotte
Special to The Advertiser
WAHIAWA — Naji Abdelslam took home more than a pineapple after yesterday's 28th Annual Wahiawa Pineapple Run.
The Moroccan native and Hawai'i Pacific University junior broke Chip Pierce's 1986 record for the run by 16 seconds in his debut on the hilly course, finishing in 33 minutes, 28 seconds. Pirece set his record when the course was 6.75 miles. The course was shortened in 2001 to a 10K, or 6.21 miles.
"I was by myself from start to finish, which always makes things harder," Abdelslam said. "But then again, no 10K is easy."
Chris Larson, 29, last year's Pineapple champion and a sophomore at Hawai'i Pacific, was second in 33:47, followed by Christian Friis in 34:15.
"No matter how fast I run (Abdeslam) always goes faster," Larson said of his HPU cross country teammate. "I ran two minutes faster than my winning time last year and still lost to him."
The course for this year's run started and finished at Ka'ala Elementary School on California Avenue, circled around Lake Wilson, along the pineapple fields outside of Wahiawa, and included two large hills at the 3- and 5-mile marks. Although the course was different from past year's, race officials said Abdeslam's record today will stand in the official books.
In the women's race, 18-year-old BYU-Hawai'i sophomore Chelsea Smith broke Jeannie Wokasch's nine-year win streak, finishing in 39 minutes, 12 seconds. Janine Brown, a junior at Hawai'i Pacific University, was second in 40:07. Wokasch finished third in 40:45, two seconds faster than last year.
"(Smith) got my streak," Wokasch, 40, said. "But it's great to see this kind of talent stepping up."
After a modest start, Smith passed Wokasch and Brown at the 3 1/2-mile mark and picked up the pace in the second half of the race to average 6:19 per mile.
The Spokane, Wash., native is training for her first marathon, the Ogden Marathon in Utah on May 3. Her most recent training included a 2 1/2-hour run on Thursday and a 1-hour swim on Friday. She says her motivation for this race was probably the same as most of the other participants.
"I just did it for the pineapple," she said.
Dole and Del Monte each donated 400 pineapples for race finishers.
Notes: About 600 people ran in this year's event, according to first-year race organizer Bryan Gusman. ... Participants in this year's event had a chance to see the infamous Lake Wilson during the run and check on the salvinia molesta clean-up progress. "I saw the lake, and there is no green monster," Ted Sappington of Pearl City said.
