The Big Island boasts some of the most beautiful ocean swim races anywhere, and winning one of them is considered a huge accomplishment. But for a Big Island swimmer, winning three of them, via the Triple Crown Title of Open Water Swimming, is a monumental achievement that will forever be cemented into the history books.
Sunday’s Kamakahonu Swim was the final leg of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, a race series organized by Kona Aquatics head coach, Dave Gibson. The Triple Crown is awarded to the top male and female swimmers who post the lowest, or fastest, cumulative times among three qualifying races — the Anaehoomalu Splash, the Hapuna Rough Water Swim, and the Kamakahonu Swim. All three events are 1-mile open water swim races.
Heading into the final race at Kailua Bay, X Rose, who won the men’s division in the first two races, held a 34-second lead over Brock Imonen, and 1:23 minutes over Jeff Faiola. Once again, Rose continued his open water dominance by claiming the men’s Kamakahonu title with his time of 22:03, and cemented his name into Triple Crown swim history with a cumulative time of 1:02:55.
“It feels really cool because it’s a race that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time,” said 15-year old Rose, who is homeschooled but plans to swim for Kealakehe this coming year. “My older brother did it awhile back, and two of my sisters did it today. It’s kind of a family thing and it’s really awesome that Coach Dave brought the swims back.”
Imonen secured his second-place spot with a cumulative time of 1:03:30, and Nolan Morton finished the series in third place at 1:06:30.
The women’s race was much closer making it hard to predict the final outcome prior to Sunday’s event. Susan Groff held a two-second lead over Michelle Axelson, and a 12-second lead over Brenda Avery.
While athletes compete knowing that anything can happen during a race and especially during a race series, Gibson’s earlier comment, “there’s always a surprise at every race,” came true after the final women’s tally.
For the first time in Triple Crown Swim race history, there was a tie for the overall women’s title. With Axelson (23:53) finishing ahead of Groff (23:55) on Sunday by two-seconds, the women finished the series at an even tie for first place (1:07:58). The result took them by surprise.
“Wow, I was definitely surprised,” Axelson said. “I think it’s an honor just being in the Triple Crown, and I think it’s awesome. I just want to congratulate everyone.”
Groff added, “I was really happy to be able to hang onto Michelle. It was great just having the different venues which made it so unique, and each race was so different.”
Kailua-Kona’s Brenda Avery claimed the third podium spot in the Triple Crown race series with her cumulative time of 1:08:21.
Gibson hopes to continue the momentum for open water swim events next year.
“This year we called it the ‘COVID transition year’ because we had to do a lot of things differently. Hopefully next year, we can get back into the rhythm these races used to have and just concentrate on having fun, and hopefully COVID is totally behind us then.
“People have been loving it. They are out, seeing friends, doing something they love but couldn’t do for a couple of years. I’ve been getting a lot of great feedback and we look forward to putting on this event again next year.”
