NORTH KONA — Kanoa Blake, a polite, slim, well-reserved middle schooler, had a year to sit and stew. ADVERTISING NORTH KONA — Kanoa Blake, a polite, slim, well-reserved middle schooler, had a year to sit and stew. Actually, he didin’t
NORTH KONA — Kanoa Blake, a polite, slim, well-reserved middle schooler, had a year to sit and stew.
Actually, he didin’t really sit at all, he stayed active, as he runs cross country at Parker School. But it was a touch aggravating finishing in second place last year at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai Run for Hope. So when Blake lined up at the starting line Sunday at the 20th annual benefit run on the property of the five-star resort, he had one thing on his young mind.
“I wanted to win,” he said.
Which he did, clocking a 5k time of 20 minutes 27 seconds, though there was a point at the end of the race, after the course looped back away from the ocean, where he wanted to die.
“Hard,” he said.
But?
“I really wanted to win.”
The benefit run marked a culmination of a three-day weekend of events to raise money for cancer research. Friday evening, it kicked off with Taste of Hawaii, where the island’s finest chefs prepared their best offerings at Hoku Amphitheatre. Saturday, golfers and tennis players teed and served in the name of research and Sunday marked the 5 and 10K runs, which were followed by a breakfast on a lawn under the sun.
Roughly 200 people took part in the run, which started early in the morning and whose course immediately went uphill, but then turned around and shot down to a boardwalk along the ocean where the morning sun was still orange on the water.
Beautiful, Greg Nielson, of Waimea, described it.
The novice runner knocked out a 5k in 31:19. It’s his second 5k community run after he picked up running recently after adopting to his partner’s ways, meaning his significant other is a heck of a runner and now Nielson is on board. He enjoyed taking in the sights along the way and was pleased with his showing to boot.
“I’m happy,” he said.” I finished faster than I thought I would.”
But as far as the course — and the uphill climb out of the gate — well, so goes the battle.
“We’re on an island where everything has a pitch,” said Linda Larsen, chief accountant with the resort who volunteer co-chaired organizing the event with Shelbie Sanoria, Keolu Clubhouse restaurant manger and Allison Tan, public relations manager with the resort. “There’s no way to keep it flat.”
The annual run matches the years the Four Seasons resort has been on island — two decades. All the proceeds raised stay in Hawaii for cancer research, namely to the University of Hawaii and the West Hawaii American Cancer Society. After the run, participants put flowers into a canoe in a ceremony to remember everyone who has battled cancer. Paddlers Paris DeCanbra and Raphael Felder paddled them out to the bay and let them rest on the water.
“To remember,” Uncle Earl Regidor, who led the ceremony, said of the reason.
The goal of the fundraiser this year was to bring in $120,000, which would have been a slight bump compared to last year’s goal.
But that’s the point.
“We always up the ante,” said Sanoria, who appreciated the co-chair position they were given, which rotates annually. “It’s almost an honor to be chosen as a chair.”
And back to the run. The 10K field had 39 participants and was won by Taylor Carroll, who clocked 45:46. But fun was the name of the game despite the serious mission at hand.
Like for Annie Roelser, co-owner of South Kona’s Annie’s Island Fresh Burgers, who sponsored a work team to take part in the event. On Sunday, she finished the 5k, her first road run after recently giving birth. Sweating, smiling, she said it felt good to be back on the road with so many other happy people.
“It felt great,” she said.
