Nate Grocholski held such a huge lead over the rest of the field during the run portion at Sunday’ Wee and DLT Whirled Pea’s Biathlon event, that it almost didn’t matter what time he finished in.
Nate Grocholski held such a huge lead over the rest of the field during the run portion at Sunday’ Wee and DLT Whirled Pea’s Biathlon event, that it almost didn’t matter what time he finished in.
What mattered though, was how the Kailua-Kona resident swam and ran himself to the front — and literally out of everyone’s sight — to claim his first overall Peaman Biathlon victory of the year.
Even runner up Guillermo Boza said that he had no idea that he was racing for second place until he saw a determined Grocholski flying back on the out-and-back run course on Alii Drive well before Boza hit the run turnaround cone.
And that’s because Grocholski proved to everyone that even a 40-year-old could race Sunday’s ¾-mile swim in Kailua Bay and 3.9-mile run on Alii Drive fitter and faster than ever.
“I’ve been paddling with the Keauhou Men’s Masters 40, six-man, as I just turned 40,” Grocholski said. “So I’ve been doing a lot of swims and runs to cross-train for paddling and I decided to jump in today’s race. But I guess I got lucky.”
Grocholski attributed his luck to the fact that a few competitors, like Kona’s Michael DeCarli and John Howerton, both decided to end their race right after the ¾-mile swim. A quick flashback to May’s Peaman Spring, Sprang, Sprung Biathlon had all three racing neck-and-neck for first, with Grocholski settling for third.
“It’s a good thing that they didn’t run as I wouldn’t know how that would’ve turned out,” Grocholski said with a laugh. “Since no one was in front of me and I didn’t have anyone to chase down, I just sort of kept my pace all the way till the end.
But it was hard as I had to push myself, and I was afraid I would die out before the finish.”
Nevertheless, Grocholski won in an amazing time of 49 minutes and 29 seconds. Boza tried to make up ground over the final two miles of the run, but still finished over two minutes back in second place at 51:38. Levi Childers held onto third to stop the clock at 54:55.
While Grocholski has competed in numerous Peaman Biathlon events over the last few years, Sunday’s swim-run happened to be Boza’s first competition in the infamous waters of Kailua Bay.
“A friend from the hospital told me about today’s race but I’ve been doing triathlons on and off since 1991,” Boza said. “Right now I’m just swimming and running so I thought today would be perfect. I’ve done several Ironman’s but I’ve never qualified for Kona.”
Boza, who moved to Kona two months ago to work as a physical therapist at Kohala Hospital, said that while he was able to draft off the group as they headed out to the ¾-mile swim buoy, found himself separated from the pack on the way back as he took a wider turn and veered toward the shoreline near Kona Inn.
“I got a little lost on the swim and I was really close to the shoreline,” he said. So I caught the group that I was swimming with at about mile one on the run. Then about a half a mile before I hit the turnaround, I saw the first runner heading back. He looked really good and that’s when I realized that I was in second. I didn’t think that I was going to catch him so I just tried to maintain my pace so I wouldn’t get caught from behind. But I never had sight of him again.”
A finned Lori Montgomery won the women’s division in 1:02:05, with Elizabeth Thomason and M. Grace-Double taking the next two podium spots with their times of 1:04:40 and 1:05:19 respectively.
Other race divisions proved to be just as competitive as Keahi Parker ripped through the ¾-mile swim race to exit Kaiakeakua Beach in first at 18:42. Nicole Lewien was the top Pea in the 3.9-mile Run Peas division with her time of 33:36, and Aiden Ankrum (swim) and Josiah Randerson (run) claimed the Split Peas relay title with their combined time of 45:26.
In the shorter LavaKids Pea Wee course featuring a 200-yard swim and 1-mile run, Kyle Randerson led wire-to-wire to finish in a fantastic time of 12:21. Elisa Childers tried to keep it close and sailed through the finish line to claim second place and first for the female division with her time of 14:05, with Vasco Freitas rounding out the podium in 14:50.
Layla and Goose Gagnon teamed up to take the Pea Wee Split Peas title in 14:59, and Linnea Meier won the 1-mile run with her time of 8:51.
Grocholski, who is preparing for the upcoming 65th annual Molokai Hoe on Oct. 8th — the men’s world championships in outrigger canoe racing where teams from around the globe paddle 41-miles from Molokai to Oahu — agreed that Sunday’s conditions couldn’t have been more perfect.
“The swim was really nice, and the run was a little warm but really nice. But it’s always nice to run on Alii Drive.”