You're even better when you can win it.

That was the case for Mike Judd and Mark Sandvold as they took top honors at the Kanaka I Kai Ka O'ahu Championships yesterday.

Judd won the canoe division, completing the course from Makai Pier to Magic Island in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 56 seconds; Sandvold won the surfski division in 2:01:01.

"It's always nice to win the races at the end of the (season)," Judd said. "But I think most of us look at this one as a training run for the big one."

The big one would be the Moloka'i World Championship on May 18. The state championships is scheduled for April 17.

"Pretty much anybody can win any week," Sandvold said. "Today was a hard one. There were some small (swells), but you really had to work for it. And then it got really hot about halfway in."

Sandvold and his training partner, Marshall Rosa, broke to an early lead ahead of the rest of the pack, then Sandvold took the lead by himself just before Diamond Head.

"I basically followed (Rosa) to Black Point, then I think he let me go," said Sandvold, who is 38 and a pilot for Hawaiian Airlines.

Rosa finished second at 2:02:02, and Sean Monahan was third at 2:04:51.

Mary Smolenski was the first female to finish on a surfski in 2:18:21. Deanne Hemmens was second in 2:19:39.

MIKE JUDD

"Three or four of us took the lead and kind of slowly separated from everyone else," said Judd, 29. "I felt like I had a good course, and today was the kind of day where that kind of strategy was big."

Manny Kulukulualani came in second at 2:07:21, and Aaron Napoleon was third at 2:08:13. Defending world champion Karel Tresnak Jr. placed fifth at 2:11:28.

Torrey Goodman was a surprise winner in the women's canoe race. She finished in 2:33:41 for the first major victory of her paddling career.

"I've won some shorter races, but nothing like this," said Goodman, who is 44 and an emergency room doctor at Kaiser Medical Center.

Goodman said she took the lead halfway through the course, and then overcame a mistake late in the race.

"I got hit by a wave off Kaimana Beach and fell over," she said. "But I got back up pretty quick and luckily it didn't cost me. I guess the good thing was I got to cool off."

Paula Crabb was second in 2:34:21, and Loretta Toth third in 2:36:37.

Pat Von and Greg Edwards were the first to finish on a two-person canoe in 2:09:37.