News
Hawaii 2005
Posted October 23, 2005 07:15 PM
We're now home from an incredible 3 weeks in Hawaii. Our trip began with the first week spent in Honolulu where Bob was competing in the Age Group World Championships. Bob's attitude for the race was that it was just going to be a "fun" one - the hard part had been qualifying for the Canadian National Team in August. Plus we had decided to rent a road bike for Bob to race on while in Hawaii, rather than having to deal with bringing his bike with us while in Honolulu and on the Big Island of Hawaii for the following two weeks.
The swim was two 750m loops in the ocean. There was quite a swell to the ocean and the swim was a tough one - never Bob's best leg of a triathlon even under calm water conditions. The 40km bike course went up Diamond Head and out along the highway before returning to Waikiki. The course was quite hilly and challenging but very scenic. By the time Bob started the 10km run it was very hot out, and the combination of the heat plus some unwanted mouthfuls of sea water swallowed during the swim made him nauseous if he pushed the pace. So he just toned the run down to a slower pace and finished strong. The race was a blast and the awards ceremony and meal afterwards, on the beach, was super.
We then flew out to the Big Island (Hawaii), picked up our rental car and headed to the rental condo at Kailua-Kona. We really lucked in as the condo was fabulous - a real home away from home. Unobstructed ocean views plus incredible sunsets every night. We spent the 5 days before the race taking in any and everything connected to the race. We drove the bike route (nowhere near as hilly as the IMCanada course but normally blasted by very strong crosswinds). We spent lots of time in the village of Kailua-Kona. Everywhere you looked there were the big names in triathlon. So many top pros and former pros were there to either compete or just be part of the pre-race activities.
Race morning we got up early and headed down to get a spot on the seawall by the pier. We had a good view of the swim start and watched until the pros were back in and a lot of the age groupers had exited. We then headed up to watch the cyclists heading out on the first "out and back" section of the bike course. One fellow flatted right by us - it was impressive to watch him changing his tire in less than 4 minutes. He had obviously practiced well to do it so quickly and efficiently! Then we headed back to the condo which was only 2.5 miles from the race site. We were able to have a nice rest for the balance of the morning before heading outside to stand on Ali'i Drive to see the first male pros run past. We were lucky as everyone had to run past the condo on the "out and back" first portion of the run course. So we were able to see everyone twice within a 1/2 hour or so. A couple of hours later we went inside for the afternoon "rest period". Spectating is hard work! At around 6pm, just before we headed out to spectate before starting our volunteer stint at the finish line I went outside to watch some of the final runners heading out. Just then Val Gonzales, someone we know from Victoria, was running past. I had hoped to see her at one point during the race but up to that point had missed her. It was thrilling to see her and I was able to run alongside for a few minutes to hear about her race and offer some words of encouragement.
At 8pm we reported for finish line catching duties. We spent the next four hours mostly standing around (there were lots of teams of catchers and only 300 or so participants left out on the course). We ended up catching about 8 finishers within the 4 hour shift. The second person we "caught" was Bruce Regensburg from Victoria who we'd met while in Honolulu, so that was really neat. His son, Paul, runs PacificSport Training Centre in Victoria and trains a lot of the big-name pros.
Later in the night there was a lot of excitement with the pending arrival of Sarah Reinertsen. Sarah is a young woman with a prosthetic leg. She was trying to become the first female "above the knee amputee" to finish the race. She had entered the race last year but had missed the bike cutoff by 15 minutes so was unable to head out on the run. This year there was a huge amount of media coverage for her, plus she had a large support crew of family and friends all wearing t-shirts with "Unfinished Business" written on them. Bob and I had just caught a 76 year old man when the announcer called out "Here comes Sarah!!" I turned around to see her coming down the finish chute to the finish line, and then turned back to see a tidal wave of cameras and reporters rushing forward to film Sarah's finish. Poor Bob and I had to muscle our way through the onslaugh of cameras to get our finisher out of the way. It was surreal!
Two other highlights of the evening were when Sister Madonna Buder finished as the first woman ever to complete IMHawaii in the 75-79 age group. Another history making moment was when a fellow finished for the first time in the 80-84 age group. When interviewed at the finish line, and asked if he would be back next year, he calmly took his time and surveyed the crowd before responding in a loud voice "Noooooooooooooooooo"!! It was so funny.
As the cutoff of midnight approached there were still 3 participants out on the course. The first finished just before midnight, the next one arrived 30 seconds (!) after midnight and the last one came in 10 minutes later. Unfortunately the final two would not be "official" IMHawaii finishers. What a heartbreak. As the race conditions this year had been so favourable (especially given the fact that the winds out on the bike course, through the lava fields, were basically non-existent for once) the finishing times were very fast with lots of records being broken. The finish rate was the highest ever with 97% of the field completing the race.
The final week in Hawaii was spent relaxing, snorkeling and doing some general sightseeing. As our flight home didn't leave until 9pm we were able to have one last memorable ocean swim before leaving. We were in the water watching an incredible sunset. Just as the sun sank below the horizon we saw the "green flash" that can sometimes occur. Almost like the northern lights, in that the sky above the sinking sun had pulsating light green lights playing through it as the sun disappeared from sight. Incredible and a perfect ending to our wonderful Hawaiian vacation.
