Just when everyone thought the excitement of Saturday night’s Fourth of July fireworks and festivities had settled, a new celebratory event kept the energy alive on Alii Drive the following morning.
Just when everyone thought the excitement of Saturday night’s Fourth of July fireworks and festivities had settled, a new celebratory event kept the energy alive on Alii Drive the following morning.
Club Rehab’s inaugural Ohana Run/Walk 5K event had over 100 participants gathered in front of Hale Halawai to kick start their day by “bringing motion back to life” through exercise, and “get on track” positive lifestyle changes by improving nutrition and overall fitness.
Race organizer Barbie Nakamura, a long time runner and office manager at Club Rehab, said the decision to have the event came just two months ago when they decided to partner with Hoopomaikai’s Nutrition and Fitness Fair — a project aimed at promoting health and well being throughout the Kona community.
“One of Club Rehab’s goals this year was to help people put motion into their life, whatever it takes, and whatever that looks like,” Nakamura said. “It could be just walking, running, or swimming. It could be just very simple things and that was our goal. At Club Rehab we see a lot of people coming in with injuries but we want them to also be healthy. We want them to come to us when they are hurt but at the same time continue to be healthy.”
Nakamura added that having a 3.1-mile run/walk was a fun and doable distance for just about anyone as most people can at least walk that distance. From there, they can start to build upon their exercise and fitness goals.
“We would love to have a 10K in the future and someday build it to where we can have a half marathon,” she said. “There are people with really big goals and we would like to help them do something that is life changing.”
In the men’s division, Ben Coyle from Orange County, California darted to the front and soled his way to victory in a fabulous time of 18 minutes and 15 seconds. A distant second was Logan Welsh in 20:29, followed by Kailua-Kona’s John Ferdico in 20:55.
First for the women’s division was Kelli Dorn who ran her way to the front of the field to finish in second overall with a superb time of 20:21. England’s Claire Baudouin was a few strides back in 20:39, with Kailua-Kona’s Tiffany Nakamura rounding out the women’s podium at 22:10.
Dorn, an All-BIIF cross country and track and field standout who ran for Kealakehe High School, recently graduated from West Hawaii Explorations Academy and recently committed to a four-year scholarship to run for the Lions at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California.
“My decision to go to Vanguard came just a week ago when they decided to give me scholarship money,” the 18-year-old said. “I was originally planning to go to the Air National Guard in Colorado, but I realized my running times were good enough to get money so I started emailing and asking coaches if they needed anyone else on their roster. The majority of them said yes, we actually do need someone.”
Without a doubt, it was Dorn’s impressive resume at track and field during this past season that definitely turned heads as she basically blew away the field in the girl’s 800, 1500, and 3000 events.
“I thought I was good at three miles but after my track season this year, I realized that I’m good at shorter distances as well,” she said. “I didn’t expect to win as much as I did since I had never done track and field before. Mid-season I just wanted to keep up where I was and improve my times and not worry about anyone else. But I just seemed to continue to improve throughout the season.”
Although leaving for a mainland college may feel a bit daunting for most Hawaii high school graduates, being away from home is nothing new for Dorn as she spent all of her junior year as an exchange student in Germany.
“I’m pretty excited to be going to Vanguard and I don’t think I’ll feel homesick. At least I’ll get to come home on school breaks,” she said. “ When I was in Germany, I didn’t get to come home and I remember there was just one day when I felt homesick.”
With everything from live announcing by Club Rehab’s infamous Gordon Dong, generous sponsorship by numerous businesses within the community, and drawings for what seemed to be an endless amount of raffle prizes, everyone certainly had a grand ol’ time and can look forward to seeing Club Rehab’s Ohana Run/Walk events on the race calendar for many more years to come.
Xterra Freedom Fest
In some off-island racing news, five Big Islanders qualified for November’s 20th annual Xterra World Championship off-road triathlon race in Maui.
Sixty-two participants kicked off their Fourth of July morning at Oahu’s Kualoa Ranch for Saturday’s Xterra Freedom Fest triathlon _ a gnarly off-road triathlon that featured a 1K ocean swim, 20K mountain bike race on single track trails, followed by a grueling, hot and hilly 10K trail run.
As one of two qualifiers in the state and with just 25 slots to compete for, the annual event attracted the best off-road triathletes brave enough to face the adverse conditions of the day.
Rough surf conditions caused race organizers to change the swim course right before the start of the race, which turned what should’ve been a .6-mile swim into a 1.2-mile survival course.
“The swim was long with lots of rough water,” Janet Higa-Miller said. “Two loops with a run on the beach. Both the mountain bike and trail run was very hot and hilly. Brutally fun day!”
Leading the way for the Big Island was Volcano’s William McMahon, who placed an impressive second overall in a superb time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 47 seconds.
As a cross country and track and field coach for Hilo High School, McMahon is no stranger when it comes to competing in the gnarliest triathlon on the planet. The multiple Xterra World Championship finisher completed last year’s Maui race in 3:47:27.
Following McMahon, four other Big Islanders won their respective age groups and punched tickets to November’s prestigious event.
Placing ninth overall was Kailua-Kona’s Grant Miller (50-54) in 2:48:26, Bruce Wacker (65-69) at 3:03:55, Higa-Miller (55-59) in 3:50:19, and Waimea’s Wendy Minor (70 & Over) in 4:21:12.
“I’m excited and looking forward to Maui,” Higa-Miller said. “I’ve qualified before and have done it eight times, but this is the first year that Grant (Miller) and I will be able to race in the same event together. He’ll definitely be faster and finish before me, but it makes me think about our first IRONMAN together.”
Higa-Miller said that one of her fondest memories in triathlon was their first Kona IRONMAN World Championship in 1994. Although her husband, Grant, finished well ahead of her, he returned to find her on the run course and both crossed the finish line together.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get a finisher photo like that again,” Higa-Miller said. “So I’m happy to be doing Maui with Grant. I’ve done it in its inaugural year when there were only 123 participants who were mostly from Hawaii, and now I’m going back to do it again for its 20th year.”
Another participant that truly impressed Higa-Miller was Waimea’s Minor.
“She’s a rock star,” Higa-Miller exclaimed. “She’s 70 years old and will be the first 70-year old to do Maui. They’ve never had a 70 & Over division before for women, as the oldest age group was 65-69. But she keeps winning her age group and keeps coming back to do Maui.”
Coming Up
Sunday: The 2nd Annual Hilo Triathlon will begin at 7 a.m. at James Kealoha Beach Park in Hilo. The Olympic distance event will feature a 1500-meter swim, 40K bike and 10K run. Registration is closed but for more information on the event schedule visit hilotriathlon.org.