Olympic trials to close some streets Sunday

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

The upcoming U.S. Olympic triathlon trials and related events will affect traffic on Sunday.

The public triathlon — an age-group race open to anyone held before the Olympic trials — starts at Kapi'olani Park at 6 a.m. and winds down Kalaniana'ole Highway to Hawai'i Kai, causing some streets to partially close.

The U.S. Olympic triathlon trials will be held on a different course and will shut Kalakaua Avenue through Waikiki and roads around Diamond Head starting at 10 p.m. Saturday and running through 5 p.m. Sunday.

The trials start at Queen's Surf Beach; the women's race begins at 12:30 p.m. and the men's at 3 p.m. The competitors cross the finish line, on Kalakaua just diamondhead of Monsarrat Avenue.

City officials are working on coordinating traffic with Honolulu police, said Malcolm Tom, the city's deputy managing director, through a spokeswoman.

John Korff, one of the producers of the Olympic trials, was confident the race will proceed without problems.

"It'll all be fine," Korff said. "Everything will be perfect. It's not unusual for a city that's never had an event like this not to know what to do. But we've done them. (For the past two years) we've looked at every rock and pebble and intersection and curb cut that you can possibly see. It's what we do."

The trials will be held the same week as two other international sports events in Honolulu that could affect traffic near their locations:

• Enson Inoue, the former Manoa resident who has become a Japanese superstar in mixed martial arts, will make his Hawai'i debut on Friday at Blaisdell Arena.
• Teams from China, Japan, Korea, Canada, Russia and other countries will send Olympic gymnastics hopefuls Thursday through Saturday to the Stan Sheriff Center for the 2004 Pacific Alliance Championships.