Just ask Kona’s Penn Henderson or Kym Kiser about the Big Island’s notorious 6.5-mile Kaloko hill climb, both will say it’s a downright brutal grind from start to finish.
Just ask Kona’s Penn Henderson or Kym Kiser about the Big Island’s notorious 6.5-mile Kaloko hill climb, both will say it’s a downright brutal grind from start to finish.
“I always tell people, there is no easy way up that road,” Henderson said. “Whether you go at maximum effort or half effort it’s still going to feel harder than anything you’ve ever done.”
Kiser had a similar response. “It’s a hard race no matter what. I’ve done the shorter distance, I’ve ran it, I’ve mountain biked it, and road biked it. But no matter what, there is no easy way to get up this hill. And even if you are going easy, it’s still hard.”
With both Henderson and Kiser being multiple King and Queen of the Mountain Champions for this merciless beast of a climb, their forewarnings shouldn’t be taken lightly especially when the race is appropriately named Pedal Till Ya Puke, Run Till Ya Ralph.
After 25 years of holding this sadistic challenge, you’d think athletes would get the message and stay far away – opting for a more enjoyable Sunday morning by riding and running on more gentle terrain such as Queen Kaahumanu Highway or Alii Drive.
But there is something uniquely mysterious and attractive about taking on such a formidable challenge that draws dozens of athletes from all fitness levels for the annual gathering at the bottom of Kaloko Drive. And only then, as they gaze upon the impending steep gradient of the road does reality sink in as they ponder upon an impossible question. “Will I make it?”
Over the years, athletes have been given a choice of how best to conquer the climb, whether to use a road bike, mountain bike, triathlon bike, or just plain old running shoes. One must also consider the brutal 3,000 feet in elevation gained, steep gradients upwards of 20-percent, and the logistics of the climb itself.
“It’s Hawaii’s hardest sub one-hour race of any kind in my opinion,” Henderson said. “Kaloko’s six switchback turns are ridiculously steep and in between those turns, it’s just less steep and so you still need to push hard. There’s no rhythm because of the varying gradients, so it becomes mentally difficult to maintain a steady effort.”
Sunday morning’s cloudless sky and rising temperatures gave participants a hint of the unusually hot and humid conditions awaiting them on Kaloko Drive.
Henderson, a three time Kaloko champion and course record holder, immediately powered his way to the front with Malik Mariano, Todd Marohnic and Adam Ankrum giving chase in the road bike division.
Before the road of the climb zigzagged its way to the top while becoming steeper and steeper, Henderson quickly found himself riding on his own as Mariano, Marohnic and Ankrum dropped off pace – and that became a challenge all on it’s own.
“I kept making deals with myself,” Henderson said. “I was telling myself, get to the next turn, then get up this section as hard as you can, okay now just push to the next tree, and so on.”
Henderson pedaled his way across the finish line to claim his fourth King of the Mountain victory in 39 minutes and 51 seconds.
The race for second turned out to be a tough one between last year’s defending champion, Marohnic, and Ankrum.
“Todd (Marohnic) started out faster and usually I can’t catch him on the uphill,” Ankrum said. “But I think he went out a little harder than normal and I caught him on the fifth switchback. I thought we’d ride together but I saw that I gapped him. And when that happened, I knew that I had to keep going hard as I didn’t want him to catch back up to me.”
Ankrum, who is training for his first Kona IRONMAN World Championship race in October, said he felt surprised to cut a minute off of last year’s time to finish in second at 49:25, while Marohnic followed in third at 49:57.
“I did my first long run for my IRONMAN training – a 16-miler in two hours yesterday,” Ankrum said. “So I wasn’t sure how the legs would respond but they felt pretty good today even if it was hot.”
Like Henderson, Kiser found herself all alone in the women’s road bike race and for good reasons. Not only was she in fifth position among the men and riding away from the rest of the field, she also happened to be the only female brave enough to take on such an arduous challenge.
For a third year in a row, the Kaloko Queen of the Mountain champion finished with an impressive time of 54:26.
“Since I was the only female in the race, I made a joke at the beginning that I can actually be last place and at the same time be first place all in the same race,” Kiser said with a laugh. “It was actually harder as I didn’t have the push from any other females, and I was actually about two minutes slower from my fastest time. But what’s amazing is my fastest time (52:25) was so much harder. It’s incredible how much harder two minutes can be on a hill such as this.”
In the 6.5-mile Run Till Ya Ralph challenge, it came down to a two-person race – one between veteran runner and 2009 champion, Jon Jokiel, and Kaloko rookie, Cody Ranfranz.
Before the half-way point of the climb, Ranfranz took control of the lead for good, and continued on a consistent pace to take his first win in a fabulous time of 1:01:58. Thirty seconds back was Jokiel in 1:02:28, with Leonard Torricer in third at 1:18:53.
For the women, 2010 champion Michelle Hopper claimed her second win at 1:28:08, while Katie Rice and Linda Goeth duplicated last year’s placing and finished in 1:29:15 and 1:30:39 respectively.
Robert St. Clair and Laura Ankrum, who ran with her dog Frodo, topped the men’s and women’s division for the 3.5-mile Papa Pea Plod. St. Clair finished in 33:36 while Ankrum crossed in 45:52.
In the Mad Dog Mile event named after the legendary and 10x Run Till Ya Ralph champion, Karl Honma, Erik Basden took the win in a time of 10:01. Keeping it within the family was Jaiden Basden who won the women’s division in 15:11.
With the 25th edition of Peaman’s Pedal Till Ya Puke, Run Till Ya Ralph races closing another chapter in the history books, athletes shared their admiration for the race organizer and have already begun to talk about competing in next year’s event.
“Peaman does such a great job with this race including the volunteers,” Kiser said. “The fact that you can have two distances with both runners and bikers and a Keiki race at the top, it’s just a little bit of everything for the entire family. It’s fun no matter how hard it is.”
As they say, you can never get enough of a good thing.