'People's race' draws almost 700
| • | First U.S. male finishes second to Canadian |
| • | Top female bounces back from 2000 trials |
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Melissa Kawana's race was not going to end with an invitation to Athens. That didn't stop the 13-year-old Mililani middle-schooler from appraising the adolescent competition yesterday in the 24-Hour Fitness Honolulu Triathlon.
Photos by Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
"I think I should be able to do pretty good," she said, eyeing a 12-year-old girl stretching near a bike rack. "My training has been interrupted by a lot of homework."
Participants in the 24-Hour Fitness Honolulu Triathlon rode bicycles, swam and ran during yesterday's event in Waikiki. Many of the competitors praised the empty streets and clearly marked routes.
Melissa joined sister Sabrina, 15, and buddy Kent Yamada, 12, to form a relay team in yesterday's race. Big sister handled the bike, while Kent rushed the waves, leaving the road race to Melissa.
Although the undersized trio admitted to feeling a little nervous, none were intimidated by their older and taller competitors.
"I knew the area (in the water) because I did a roughwater swim there," Kent said, gesturing to the blown out sets rolling onto Sans Souci beach. "The funnest part was running back."
Almost 700 people from across the country — representing an array of age groups — participated in yesterday's triathlon.
Billed as the "people's race," the event was run in conjunction with the "Race to Athens-Honolulu," an Olympic qualifying competition among 28 elite athletes vying for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team.
Windy weather greeted the athletes as they lined up by age on the shore at Sans Souci. With Vili the Warrior pounding away on his drum, and people looking on from hotel balconies and the beach, an air horn signaled the start for each group.
"I didn't care if I finished first overall, I just wanted to cross the line first," said Mark Speck, who was the first person to cross the finish line.
"I like to compete. It's fun," Susan Burr said. She was the first woman to complete the course.
After knifing through a water loop of 1.5 miles, the contestants jogged to a transition area on the Queen's Beach side of the Honolulu Aquarium to shed their swim caps and grab their bikes.
Right after sunrise, Deni O'Shea jumped up and clapped when she saw her husband, James, barreling toward his bike. As James pulled on riding shorts and took long pulls from a water bottle in preparation for the 40-kilometer bike ride, Deni snapped digital picture after picture.
"I have bad knees and didn't prepare," she said. "This is very exciting and thrilling."
Family members and friends lined Kalakaua Avenue and shouted encouragement as the triathletes rode toward Hawai'i Kai before looping back to the transition area, dropping their bikes, and finishing off the event with a 10-kilometer run.
Carla Gallup flew in with her family from San Ramon, Calif., to support her husband, Derek. Derek, 35, a fitness executive and Iolani School alumni, said he loves showing his kids the joy of living a fit life.
"I like the personal rush," he said.
At a shade over the two-hour mark, Manoa resident Mark Speck was the first man to cross the finish line. (The race had staggered starts, which means that although Speck was the first across the finish line, he was not the overall winner.) The 33-year-old has been running triathlons for seven years.
"He didn't train at all; he's really out of shape," said his girlfriend, Cora Rillero.
Speck, who is pursuing a master's degree in microbiology at the University of Hawai'i, said he prepared for yesterday's race by biking back and forth between classes and his Manoa home and running and swimming at Fort DeRussy Beach, where he is a lifeguard.
The Honolulu Triathlon began with a 1.5-mile swim at Sans Souci Beach. When they were done ...
... triathletes moved to a staging area where they changed into cycling gear for a 40-kilometer bike ride. That led to ...
... a 10-kilometer run for which a portion of Kalakaua Avenue was shut down. Competitors found the closed streets "amazing."
"I didn't care if I finished first overall, I just wanted to cross the line first," he said.
Not long after Speck crossed, 34-year-old Susan Burr became the first woman to complete the course.
For Burr, a Honolulu resident who works as a biologist for an environmental consulting company, yesterday's triathlon was short compared to the three Ironman competitions that she's finished.
"I like to compete. It's fun," she said. "It was hard. The shorter the course, the faster you have to run."
A lot of finishers praised the empty streets, clearly marked routes and beautiful scenery, and said they hoped the competition would return for a second year.
"It is amazing to ride on closed streets in Honolulu," said Willie Stewart, a 42-year-old triathlete from Redlands, Calif.
Stewart, who lost his left arm 20 years ago in a construction accident at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C., said yesterday's event helped him prepare for his third Ironman competition in Kona in October.
With the elite athletes slated to start after all the amateurs had finished, many competitors said they would stay on to watch. Others, like 51-year-old Cliff Rigsbee, were just happy to be done.
Rigsbee, a Honolulu firefighter who has been competing in triathlons since 1981, was the first 50-something racer to finish.
"It keeps me young in heart and spirit," he said.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com
Correction: The overall winner was Nick Hastie, but Mark Speck was the first to cross the finish line because the competition had staggered start times. A previous version of this story yesterday was not clear.
