The women of the Ka Mamalahoe Canoe Club know they will not win Sunday's Na Wahine O Ke Kai outrigger canoe race.

That doesn't mean they can't finish as winners anyway.

"Our focus is a little different from those elite clubs," Ka Mamalahoe coach Scott Thompson said. "Winning is nice, but it's not our main focus. We're just happy to share in this experience and spread the sport — extend the family of paddlers."

Ka Mamalahoe will be one of around 70 all-female crews expected to participate in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai. The 41-mile race from Hale O Lono Harbor, Moloka'i, to Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Waikiki, is considered the world championship of long-distance canoe racing for women.

There are probably around a dozen teams with a legitimate shot at winning. The rest of the field is like Ka Mamalahoe.

"There are a handful of teams out there training to win this race," Thompson said. "The rest of us are training to finish the race as best as we can."

Much like the Honolulu Marathon, the Na Wahine O Ke Kai would not be the race it is today if not for the "everyday paddler."

"We're not going to win, we're not even going to be top 20," paddler Rosanna Auwae said. "But it's what you make of it. If we have fun, we have a good race and we still finish in the middle of the pack, we're still going to feel like we won."

Ka Mamalahoe is a small club based at Ke'ehi Lagoon. This is its third year of existence, so many of the paddlers are new to the sport.

Members of the Ka Mamalahoe crew on Sunday will be Po'o Auwae, Rosanna Auwae, Jackie Brown, Pam Glatt, Treva Greig, Jeannie Holm, Lisa Jones, Kim Lee, Leah Miller and Allegra Thompson.

Brown, Greig, Lee and Allegra Thompson (the daughter of the coach) will be competing in the Na Wahine O Ke Kai for the first time.

"We've been building up to this the whole season," Lee said. "But I'm still nervous. It's ignorance, really. Never having done it, I don't know what to expect."

Brown and Lee are enlisted in the Air Force, stationed at Hickam. They joined Ka Mamalahoe through word of mouth.

"It was basically just friends asking me to come out and try it and I thought 'why not?' " Brown said. "And now, this is like a family to me."

Brown's real family in Michigan is still trying to figure out what Sunday's race is all about.

"They're just amazed when I tell them about this race," she said. "They can't fathom paddling across the ocean from one island to another island in a canoe. It makes me proud to tell them about it."

The only true paddling veteran in the crew is Glatt, who will be competing in her 10th Na Wahine O Ke Kai.

"What I like about this club is that everybody gets a chance to participate," Glatt said. "This is a diverse club, but we make it work. When you consider that we have a lot of novices mixed with a few veterans, we're doing OK."

All the women in the crew are serious about paddling, but not serious enough to let it take priority in their lives.

Practices are limited to four to six hours per week. There are no mandatory morning runs or weightlifting sessions.

"I know the top clubs do all the extra work and they live for paddling and that's awesome," Rosanna Auwae said. "They inspire all paddlers to do better, but at the same time, I have a job that keeps me away from practice, sometimes, so I'm fine with how we do it."

However, that is not to say the crew is unprepared for the trek across the sometimes-treacherous Kaiwi Channel.

"If I didn't think these girls were ready, we wouldn't do it," Scott Thompson said. "That's not the place to be playing around. We don't practice every day, but when we do practice, it's a hard practice."

All things considered, the crew's goal of finishing in the top 50 percent of the field is an admirable one.

"There are a lot of accomplishments and victories you can make along the way of a race as long as this," Brown said. "And if we can reach some of those, we'll be fine."

Lee added: "It doesn't matter where you finish, really. At the end of the race, you look back and if you beat that one team behind you to the finish, that's a great feeling."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.