The year was 1998 and 83 competitors gathered along the sandy beach of Anaehoomalu Bay, ready to take on a new Olympic Distance event on the triathlon circuit — Lavaman Waikoloa. ADVERTISING The year was 1998 and 83 competitors gathered
The year was 1998 and 83 competitors gathered along the sandy beach of Anaehoomalu Bay, ready to take on a new Olympic Distance event on the triathlon circuit — Lavaman Waikoloa.
Race director and founder, Gerry Rott, remembered organizing her first triathlon race like it was yesterday.
“It was a beautiful day, it was like it was party,” Rott said. “It was mostly local athletes, and there were probably maybe fifteen athletes from Oahu who were mostly cyclists, but the rest were all from the Big Island. It was a very low-key triathlon but it had all of the elements of a high quality race.”
Rott explained that the idea to create a triathlon event came after a Japanese tour group first approached her to organize a Century Ride for 400 Japanese tourists on the Big Island.
At the time, Rott owned B&L Bike and Sports and was already a veteran with organizing various sporting events after several years of putting on a local Bike Fest, competitive running events, and the popular Hard Rock Criterium races. Rott also served as an IRONMAN official for many years.
After seeing success from the Century Ride, the same Japanese tour group asked Rott to organize a triathlon race and to call it, The Big Island Triathlon.
“That’s when I went out to the Hilton and talked with Dieter Sieger, who was the general manager there and also a triathlete himself, and he helped me to put together the whole thing in 1998,” Rott said. “Then the Japanese economy fell apart which caused them to cancel about five weeks before the race. We had all the arrangements made, all of the permits, the course laid out — basically everything done.
“I went to Dieter to tell him that it wasn’t going to happen and he said, ‘Let’s just do it as a local race.’ So we did, and had 83 people. The Hilton was such a great venue and that first year, everybody loved it so much. They said to me, ‘Let’s do it again,’ and Dieter was willing, so the next year we did it again.”
Maui’s Jeff Sanders and Kona’s Maggie Grenier won the inaugural race and Rott explained that it was a different course back then.
Lavaman Waikoloa featured two transition areas, as the race started at Anaehoomalu Bay and finished at the Buddha Point, a well-known landmark of the Hilton Waikoloa hotel. Since most of the race was contained within the grounds of the hotel, the post-race party wrapped itself around the pool area.
With the Japanese tour group completely out of the picture, Rott said that she wanted to come up with her own name before the inaugural event that featured a 1.5K swim, 40K bike, and 10K run.
“It was a brainstorm between the four of us to try and come up with a name,” she said. “We were just throwing out words and all of sudden Lavaman came out and then we just looked at each other and said, ‘That’s it! We’ll call it Lavaman!’
Lavaman’s growth
The following year, Rott said that she was asked by Dr. Doug Hiller to host the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Cup for two years (1999, 2000) in conjunction with Lavaman.
Hiller, who is a board certified orthopedic surgeon, is perhaps best known for his role in helping to get triathlon designated as an Olympic sport, and for having served as Chief Physician for the IRONMAN World Championships and Chief Medical Officer for the Olympic Triathlon.
“This definitely brought a lot more attention to Lavaman and then it just started growing and growing from there,” Rott said. “It’s always been by word of mouth. I don’t do any advertising for Lavaman, I just put it up on our website that we are opening registration and then I send out a newsletter to all past participants. But it fills up and it sells out quickly.”
Rott said that she never imagined the triathlon to grow as big as the original goal was 200-300 participants. But with the popularity of Lavaman spreading like wildfire throughout the triathlon circuit along with Rott’s decision to move the race to have it both start and finish at Anaehoomalu Bay in 2001, the expansion and growth of Lavaman was inevitable.
From a mere 83-participants, Lavaman Waikoloa now hosts well over 1,800 competitors.
Dedicated to Lavaman
Although some of the event’s logistics have changed within the last two decades, what has remained steadfast are local sponsorships and a dedicated group of volunteers that serve as directors, who have been with Rott from the beginning.
“We’ve had seven sponsors that have been with us from the first year,” she said. “The Hilton, Waikoloa Land, IRONMAN, Holualoa Companies, Juliet Nacino, David O Photography, and the Kona Brewing Company. As well as some of our directors — Rocky Campbell, Jane Bockus, Peter Bourne, Juliet Nacino, and David O Baldwin. They have all helped from the beginning. Lavaman wouldn’t be here without them.”
Rott added that part of the sponsorship with Kona Brewing Company was having their artist come up with Lavaman’s “little man.”
“They created the man, and we created the lettering and rest of the logo,” she said. “Along with that, Dieter wanted to create a custom brew for the Hilton so Kona Brew developed a red ale and they wanted to call it, Lavaman. But because I already registered the name Lavaman, Mattson Davis came to me and on a handshake, we made an agreement for their sponsorship and they have stuck to it for 20 years.”
After twenty years, that partnership has proved to be a success and why Lavaman Waikoloa comes with the reputation of having the “best beach party” in the sport of triathlon.
Giving back to the community
Lavaman has also evolved to being more than just a race for the big kids. Rott says that Lavaman helps support local charities that she is passionate about and encourages island youth toward a healthier and active lifestyle through the LavaKids Program. In addition, Lavaman has a 15-year partnership with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program.
“This is what Lavaman is all about,” Rott said. “I am a community person, and through Lavaman I can give back to the community. It’s natural because it sets a good example for my style and I like getting the kids and families involved.”
Aside from the LavaKids Youth Aquathon &Keiki Dash now celebrating their 15th year — a swim/run for kids ages 14 and under held the day before Lavaman — Rott says her youth programs and races are scheduled year-round so that kids have something to do on a consistent basis, not just once a year.
“We try and work with anyone else who wants to add on a kids event to their event,” Rott said. “Right now we have the LavaKids monthly running program, we support Peaman’s Pea Wee races, we help at the Greg Cameron Biathlon and Waimea Keiki Bike Fest, and we will be doing a kid’s run for the Big Island Hilo Marathon. We are also looking to start a quarterly family fun run in south Kona.
“With LavaKids, I’m thankful to the people who help to run it — Claudia Kane, Ted Spitaleri, Barbie Nakamura, Susan Nixon and Ellie Sumic. And I like the partnership we have with the Waverider Tri Club and HPA teams. They all get free entries into Lavaman by helping out 16 hours at the Lavaman warehouse, monthly fun runs or any LavaKids events that we do.”
While Rott says she has no intention of selling Lavaman, Rott shared her thoughts of Lavaman’s future.
“I think growth wise, I think it’s at the size that it should be. So it’s just to perfect it, work on refining some of the details to make it easier on the race committee, the volunteers, and the athletes — make it more professional, not more commercial. I also really want to push more on the fundraising efforts to give back to the community. It’s what I’m passionate about.”
