NAWILIWILI — Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics swimmer Yasmine Ware was second out of the water, but her Sprint Relay team made up time in the bicycling phase to finish first overall at the Second Annual Kaua‘i Loves You Triathlon, Saturday. The
NAWILIWILI — Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics swimmer Yasmine Ware was second out of the water, but her Sprint Relay team made up time in the bicycling phase to finish first overall at the Second Annual Kaua‘i Loves You Triathlon, Saturday.
The Ware team of Ware, Art Mersberg and Kawaihoola Curnan stopped the clock at 1:05:14 for first overall honors after Mersberg, drafting behind Pam Kruse on the home stretch of the bicycling phase, overtook the lady leader on a 34:20 ride, tagging off to Curnan who built on the lead in the run portion to finish 20:08.
Fellow SKA swimmer Kate Machorek, a strong performer in the pool, was first out of the water at 10:29 after both herself and Ware were among the leaders hitting the surf at Kalapaki Bay at the start. Ware followed at 10:46.
Machorek tagged off to Pam Kruse, who finished the bicycle phase on a 34:39 ride 19 seconds behind Mersberg despite her leading on the home stretch. Pam tagged off to Ka‘eo Kruse, a younger performer in the triathlon, who finished the run portion on a 21:35 run to give the team a 1:06:43 finish.
“It was really cool to see our two SKA girls charging first and second out of the surging conditions in the day and beating out all other sprint distance swimmers,” said Dan Britzman, chair of the Kaua‘i Loves You triathlon, in an e-mail.
Daniel Velasco, competing in the individual sprint division, stopped the clock third overall at 1:09:33, good for first in the individual division. Velasco completed the swim in 14:28, the bike in 34:30, and the run in 20:35.
Joseph Kali finished second in the individual sprint division on a 1:10:45 overall time (14:00-34:27-22:18) despite coming out of the water ahead of Velasco; both competed in the 19-29 age group.
Lori Fleming topped the Women 30-39 age group with her third overall individual sprint finish, stopping the clock at 1:16:08 (13:03-39:38-23:27) and setting the pace as the first individual sprint competitor out of the water.
Leo McCarthy anchored the swim leg of the Olympic relay team and tagged off to bicyclist Rick Beach on a 22:36 swim en route to a first finish in that division.
Beach completed the bicycle leg on a 55:18 ride, tagging off to Doug Rasmussen, who finished the run on 43:06 for an overall team finish of 2:01:00.
Erik Seedhouse of Ontario, Canada was the first Olympic individual, stopping the clock at 2:05:29 (24:27-1:00:17-40:45), less than 30 seconds ahead of second finisher Casey McGraw of Lawa‘i, who stopped the clock at 2:05:50 (23:55-58:49-43:06).
Kaua‘i High School distance runner D.J. Herr, who got a state consideration time in a distance event during the KIF championships Friday night, stopped the clock at 2:16:12 for third in the Olympic individual event, getting a 23:44 swim, a 58:49 bike, and 46:20 run.
Samantha Michel of Fremont, Calif., running in the 19-29 age group, was the first individual Olympic woman, stopping the clock at 2:20:18 (27:46-1:04:50-47:42), sixth in the field.
The event served as a fundraiser for the SKA, with help from YMCA of Kaua‘i and JTL Timing.
Kaua‘i Police Chief Darryl Perry did the bicycle phase of his relay Olympic team, finishing second overall at 2:27:58 (27:24-1:03:57-56:37). Sueo Higa, a fireman, swam and Lt. Kaleo Perez ran for the team.
Britzman said overall there were 105 athletes participating, including athletes from Canada, Louisiana, Illinois, Minnesota, California and Oregon.
He said the event was made possible through numerous people stepping forward in support roles, including Kaua‘i Springs, a winner of the 2010 Green Innovation Awards, Kaua‘i Cycle for the free bicycle support, Kamal Salibi of True Blue Beach Services for use of the paddleboards used by the lifeguards during the swim phase, the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club as well as the County of Kaua‘i for their support. The race bags and endurance products were provided by Hammer Nutrition of Whitefish, MT.
“We look forward to making this a staple for Hawai‘i multi-sport athletes for years to come,” Britzman said.
Visit www.jtltiming.com for full listings of participants and their respective finish times.
