Diabetic done with third of his walk around O'ahu
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Honolulu man who is walking around O'ahu in an effort to raise money for diabetes treatment and research estimated yesterday that he is about a third of the way through his trek.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Robert Channels, who has diabetes himself and walks to help combat the disease, set out Thursday from Makua Cave on the Wai'anae Coast and planned to spend last night at Kailua Beach.
Robert Channels had the company of his 15-year-old nephew, March Joseph, during part of the Windward leg of his around-O'ahu trek to raise money for diabetes treatment and research.
Channels, 69, starts well before dawn each day and walks until about an hour before sunset when he looks for a place to bed down for the night.
"There are plenty beaches on this island so I don't have any problem finding a place to sleep each night," said the retired security worker who is on his fifth hike around the island.
If he keeps walking at the present pace, Channels said he expects to complete the circuit in another 10 or 11 days, which would lop almost a week off his previous record of 22 days.
At the urging of police, Channels carries no cash, but encourages people he meets along the way to send donations to the American Diabetes Association, 1500 S. Beretania St., Suite 111, Honolulu, HI 96826.
