With just a week to go for the season opener of the Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series, excitement is brewing and the butterflies are beginning to flutter.
On May 8 — which also happens to be Mother’s Day — Big Island swimmers will trade in the comforts of the pool for a swim with the fishes to compete in the Anaehoomalu Splash held at Anaehoomalu Bay. The swim series also includes the Hapuna Rough Water Swim on June 12, and the Kamakahonu Swim on July 3. All three swims in the series are one-mile races.
While each race will have an overall male and female winner, the swimmer with the fastest accumulated time from all three races will be deemed Big Island’s best — the Triple Crown winner.
After a two-year hiatus, the return of the Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series comes with a few notable changes.
In years past, the three events of the Triple Crown were organized by different race directors — Janet Higa-Miller with the Cinco de Mayo Splash, Mark Noetzel with the Hapuna Rough Water Swim, and the Kings Swim by Steve Borowski. This year, the Triple Crown swim series will be unified under one race director, Dave Gibson, who is the head coach for the Kona Aquatic Masters and Age Group swim teams.
The history of this prestigious event spans 26 years. Oftentimes races may get passed on to different race directors, or its venue and distances change, but knowing how a race began is just as important as to why organizers want to continue it today.
The popular swim certainly had a very colorful history along with its share of glory and hard times. It was Big Island resident Brad Kurtz who started the event in 1996 and hosted the one-mile competitive ocean swim at the Kailua Pier. Two years later, Kurtz obtained sponsorship from the Hilton Waikoloa Village moving the race to Anaehoomalu Bay in 1998.
The swim was held in conjunction with the Dolphin Days Festival and the Hilton sponsored a post-race fiesta buffet on the beach with Kona Brew and a $10,000 prize purse.
Later, a competitive four-mile running event was added in late summer that became part of the Hilton’s Sun, Splash & Dash series that benefitted two of the Dolphin Days Festival charities — Hawaii Shriner’s Hospital for Children and the Pacific Marine Life Foundation.
With a lucrative prize purse for top finishers, the swim and run series became one of the most popular events in the State attracting professional and elite athletes from all the islands. Those years were known as the “glory days of Splash.”
Hard times hit amidst the recession of 2008, ending the Sun, Splash & Dash series and orphaning the swim and run events to the community.
Another Big Island resident, Gary Shields, a three-time Ultraman World Champion, avid cyclist, and who helped the Hilton and Kurtz organize the series for 10 years, attempted to keep the swim going with the Cinco de Mayo Splash & Little Cinco Splash.
In the following years, Peaman and a few other athletes informally organized the swim — at either the Kailua Pier or Anaehoomalu Bay — just to keep the annual tradition alive.
Finally in 2011, Janet Higa-Miller and her husband, Grant Miller, decided to formally adopt the Cinco de Mayo Splash and secured its location at Anaehoomalu Bay. Entry fees from the race were donated to the event’s charity — The Daniel Sayre Memorial Foundation to purchase life-saving equipment for the County of Hawaii lifeguards.
The last swim race the husband-and-wife team organized was in May of 2019. Kamuela athletes Brock Imonen (21:55) and Noelani Vargas (23:45) won the male and female Cinco de Mayo titles. Later that year, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Big Island forcing the cancellation of the swim event until now.
Being a swim race so rich in history and kept alive over the years by prominent athletes of our sports community, this is a swim event you certainly don’t want to miss! For those who have yet to register, there is still a week left to get on the start list.
Start time is 8 a.m. on Sunday, May 8 at Anaehoomalu Bay. Online registration is open and information for the Anaehoomalu Splash and the swim series can be found on the Triple Crown website: www.oceanswimhawaii.com. This is a race welcoming all abilities from ages 11 and older.
There will be open divisions including an “assist division” that allows fins, masks, snorkels, neoprene wetsuits. Prizes will be given out to those who place first, second, and third in each division. Last day to register online will be May 6 at 11:59 PM HST. Anyone interested in being a Triple Crown race sponsor or volunteer can email Dave Gibson at oceanswimhi@gmail.com.