WAIMEA — Juan Gonzalez was beaming with pride as he spoke to the youth he brought from CrossFit Kekaha to the 42nd annual Captain Cook Caper Run on Saturday.
For many good reasons.
They stuck together for the 5K course.
They finished strong, sporting big smiles.
And they gave the extra effort by collecting trash along way the way.
“I’m super proud of you guys. You all give each other high fives,” he told the group as they gathered around him just after the finish line. “Good job, good job.”
“Great example,” he added. “We did a great job. We set little goals, stuck together, ran in hard, picked up lots of trash out there.”
About 200 runners completed either a 2K, 5K or 10K on a perfect morning of blue skies, sunshine and a sparkling ocean to admire.
Everyone, from the keiki to the kupuna who fell into the 51 to 99 age group, had a good time in the race that benefits Waimea High School programs.
“I felt pretty good, actually,” said Tony Canales of Lihue. “When I hit the halfway point, I talked to myself, ‘OK, I’ve got to pick it up and just coast the last part right here and make believe I was sprinting all the way, so I look like I was fresh,’” he added, laughing.
Canales hadn’t run Captain Cook for years, but decided to come out since his daughter Napua is on the Kauai High School track team.
”I thought my daughter was going to be keeping up with me but I left her in the dust,” he said, smiling.
Jeremy Gibbons of Kapaa won the 5K in 21 minutes and 3 seconds. He went out with the leaders and pulled away with a mile remaining to claim victory.
Today is his birthday, too, so he had another motivating factor to sprint hard down the stretch.
“I want to take my last day as a 36-year-old out on top,” he said.
Asked if he thought he might win prior to the race, Gibbons laughed.
“I told too many people I was going to to not,” he said.
Sisters Sui Lin Hookano and Sanoe Hookano both finished the 10K. They always enjoy their hometown Westside fun run, part of the Waimea Town Celebration, with terrific ocean views and plenty of ohana who participate.
They prefer the 10K, Sanoe said, because “you get your money’s worth.”
Kauai firefighter Kawaihoola Curnan won the 10K in 37:45, passing early leader Mark Woodwell with about a half mile to go and holding on to win by six seconds.
He finished second last year.
Winning, Curnan added with a grin, “is better than second.”
Gonzalez is the head coach of CrossFit Kekaha, part of the Keala Foundation, and provides free after-school fitness programs for youth.
“I challenged them to wake up early and do a 5K today,” he said. “They did a great job of motivating each other. It was fantastic.”
Gonzalez said he likes to share a lesson with the youth and last month’s was “leaving things better than we found them.”
“We left the road better than we found it today,” he said. “The kids were great today. Super proud.”
One of those youth, Saydie Ornelles, said finishing the race, collecting trash and being with her peers “was awesome.”
“It felt amazing,” she said.
Another Kekaha CrossFit youth, Melissa Thompson, said, “It was hard, but I think it was really a team-building exercise for the rest of us at CrossFit.”
Asked if it made her want to run another race, Thompson hesitated and laughed.
“Probably — not.”
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Bill Buley, editor-in-chief, can be reached at 245-0457 or bbuley@thegardenisland.com.
