Triathlon Recap

well the times have been tabulated and the results posted. the first healani women's triathlon is in the books. coach was a little weary of how the event would come off but thanks to the good Lord above and a lot of help from some of the men, the race was smooth and successful. the winds were light and the waves were tame which made for a perfect 1 man course; a little challenging but not too treacherous. as the theme song for 'rocky' blarred from the boom box, the girls made their way to the 1000m pole in anticipation for the start of the race.

with the drop of a hand the time clocks and girls were on thier way. first to complete the swim portion was anuschka with a blistering time of 18 minutes and 42 seconds. lt. maile was second to hit land followed closely by jen and 'olelo. the trickiest part of the event was up next. the transition from swim to paddle would take a focused effort and precise coordination, via telephone, between jodi jenkins along with sidekick chris doyle and the 1 man transporters to get the proper boat in the water at the right time. coach's biggest worry went without a hitch...except for a small faux pa with the rigging of susanne's boat. thanks to kyle's quick thinking and fast re-rigging susanne lost only a few minutes. girls came in one, two, three at a time readying themselves for the second leg.

off the girls went navagating their way down and around the race course. here a huli, there a huli, everywhere a huli, the girls pushed on through never giving up. a record 5 huli's were registered by capryce. yet her partner on the two man canoe, meesh, only had 4. only at healani baby!!! rounding the nipple bouy first coming into the channel, and making all women over 40 (and her coach) proud was deneen. making up for a fifth place position after the swim event was a very impressive feet. equally impressive was celeste who was sprinting in after 6.16 miles of paddling to move up to second position after being ninth from the swim event. the biggest improvement was made by misty s. who's second time on a one man canoe netted 0 huli's as compared to 7 from her first adventure a few weeks earlier.

as the girls came into shore, the transition from water to land proved to be quite a challenge. in true 'go healani go' form, that's what they did. they perservered through 3.2 miles of concrete, asphalt, grass, and a little dirt all the while trying to rid themselves of their water legs and find a descent running rhythm. the first to do so was celeste, followed closely by deneen, and finding her way to the podium was anuschka.

big mahalo to all the boys: bbq extraordinaire uncle jr., splits coordinators-doyle,jodi,and adrian, transporters-ikaika,kainoa,camaroo,che, and uncle boy, foreman-kyle, and last but not least, master rigger-eaton&taylor.

once again the first healani women's triathlon was a success. all who participated seem to enjoy themselves during and after the event. a small bbq with family, friends and cocktails is always a good way to end the day. it may be small steps, but coach feels that were stepping in the right direction. with each of these steps the program's vision is becoming a reality.

aloha,
t.