Climb complete: Cyclists scale Mauna Kea in Sea to Stars race

After cycling for 3 hours and 53 minutes, Ray Brust pedaled his bike across the finish line Saturday at the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Center, making him the winner of this year’s Sea to Stars race.

The race has been held off and on for the past 15 years and is organized by the Hawaii Cycling Club, said club president Daniel Hodel. Hodel said this is the 7th or 8th time the race has been held and the first since 2012.

This year, 25 cyclists from Hawaii and beyond undertook the 48-mile race, which began Saturday morning at the intersection of Waikoloa Road and Queen Kaahumanu Highway.

Cyclists race up Waikoloa Road to Mamalahoa Highway before turning onto Saddle Road. From there, the race continued along Saddle Road before a final grueling leg up the Mauna Kea Access Road toward the information center.

The trek up the access road to the finish line requires cyclists to climb more than 2,500 feet up over a span of less than 6 and a half miles, according to a map of the trail.

“This was a hard one,” Brust said at the finish line.

The 55-year-old said he’s been racing for about 40 years and competed in more than 1,000 races.

Brust said he’s competed in the Sea to Stars race every year it’s been held and has finished even faster in previous years.

“I’m glad this race got revived,” he said. “This is one of the only places you can go from zero to this altitude.”

As for the win, Brust said he’s “pretty amazed.”

“I didn’t expect it all,” he added.

Brust isn’t resting with the win though. His next race is just two weeks away: the 112-mile Dick Evans Memorial Road Race around Oahu.

Sixteen-year-old Majdi Mariano was the youngest racer to cross the finish line.

“It feels pretty awesome knowing I can do what other people can do,” he said.

He added that the race requires a combination of mental and physical training and fitness.

Every day, Mariano rides his bike to school from his home in Waikoloa to Kealakehe High School.

“It’s very good training,” he said.

He said his friends “think it’s crazy” he competed Saturday.

But, he said, it’s a thrill to compete with cyclists who have been doing this for years.

The race also attracted cyclists from outside the state, including 33-year-old Lachlan Hutchins from Australia.

Hutchins said he has been vacationing in Oahu and came over to the Big Island for the day just to compete in the race.

It’s his first ever trip to the Big Island.

“It’s brutal,” he said of the race. “I had no idea what I was in for.”

Hutchins, who said he’s “not a hill climber,” said the trek up the Mauna Kea access road “was so hard.”

“‘Just keep on pedaling.’ That’s all I kept thinking,” he said.

That difficulty, though, made it worth it for him.

“That was worth getting out of bed for,” he said.

With just one day on the Big Island, Hitchins said he wants to come back in the future for a chance to take in more of the island’s sights.

“I tried to enjoy the sights, but I was too busy almost dying,” he said.