Keauhou Tri early results

Triathlon Forum
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22nd Annual Keauhou Kona Triathlon 5/30/04 Chad Hawker (Seaside CA) 4:23:42 Jeff Sanders (Lahaina, Maui) 4:32:39 Jonathan Barber (Kailua-Kona, HI) 4:38:52 Roch Frey (Encinitas, CA) 4:42:31 Jens Beck (Anchorage AK) 4:43:23 Scott Witthoff (San Francisco, CA) 4:48:08 Paula Newby-Fraser (Encinitas, CA) 4:49:42 (1st fem) Spencer Punter (San Francisco, CA) 4:51:06 Chad Seymour (Honolulu, HI) 4:53:34 Keish Doi (Cupertino, CA) 4:54:54 Michelle Gwozdo (Carlsbad, CA) 4:55:31 (2nd fem) Sherry Coons (Wailea, Maui) 4:58:37 (3rd fem) Mitch Thrower (La Jolla, CA) 4:58:51 Franklin Staley (San Francisco, CA) 4:58:56

Conditions: sunny, hot, hot, hot, killer hills on new run course.

complete results can be found at http://keauhoutriathlon.com/

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Is the new run course tougher than the old? Your time difference?

Aloha,

Larry

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tougher tougher tougher, no one will ever argue that, throw in 3 extended kilauea hills at miles 8-10 with 95 degree heat and you’ve got the new run course, butal. Hawker killed the bike with a 2:16, swam 3 min faster than last year (I think) and still finished 20 min slower. Makes Windward tri seem like a walk in the park.

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BTW - Slow Twitchers who got on the coconut podium were Tai (2nd mens 25-29, 5:28:57) and Hairy Legs (3rd mens 40-44, 5:09:37). Any other ST’ers who may have gotten awards didn’t dare identify themselves. Tai made a banner and got a picture of 4 of us that he’ll post later. Thanks Tai for making the banner!

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Thanks Tai, sure sounds like fun! :~) I see you still had a good day - Congratulations. Candice did not compete?

Aloha,

Larry

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no she’s doing the honu race and decided to skip keauhou. truthfully i almost wish i had skipped it, blew up on the bike and the rest of the day was just survival… definetely a challenging course though.

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I saw that new part last time I was in Kona. Had to con a guard into letting us look. Instead of going into the pit you go up and up and up. Haven’t seen run splits, but that had to hurt. G

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I put up the run profile up online just now, it’s on the main forum index.

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And only 523 finishers out of more than 800 starters. Only 480 or so under 8 hours. Only 16 athletes went under 5 hours!

550 feet climb on the run!!!

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actually more than 550 climbing on the run as you did some downhills too. I had 2200 ft of total ascent including the bike and run legs

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Great race Hairy Legs! Man that was a tough run. Now we have to come up with some name(s) for those hills. The one I was thinking of yesterday is quite unprintable.

Hope that the Honu will be a little cooler and flatter… and the bike course will be swept!

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I heard the name “those f***ing hills” being passed around by more than a few people. Reminds me of a hill run we do here in manoa valley (minus the 95+ heat), I call it the Manoa Hills from Hell run

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Tai,

Do you ever run Kilauea to the top? How about trail running in Diamond Head Crater to the top?

Aloha,

Larry

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yeah, I’ve run both before. Which Kilauea? The big steep one isn’t soo bad but the longer one is a slight pain. Nothing compared to running Tantalus or the Tantalus trails from the bottom. Diamond Head crater is neat but it’s pretty rutted and there are so many tourists it’s not the best run. were you looking for elevations?

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I was just wondering if either compared the hill portion of the new KKT run?

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Larry, the steep Kileaua behind Diamond Head is steeper than the new KKT hils on the run. The Kileaua road up in the Valley at the top is about the same gradient as the new hills. I think the best hill on Oahu I can readily compare it to is the Kalani. Highway from Lunalilo Home road to the turnoff for Hanauma Bay. About the same grade and length of the average hill on the new bypass road section. Run up and down that beast three times in the noon day sun after riding from Kapiolani to Kailua and you’ve got a good training brick for the new KKT. Have fun!

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Wow, thanks, sounds like great fun! :~))

Aloha,

Larry

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ssn759co,

Thanks. I USUALLY love running hills - I often run Hanauma Bay/Hawaii Kai Dr hills 2 or 3 times per week when I bother to train, BUT Keauhou hills were insane, esp after the bike.

I had trouble finding your results - was looking up the incorrect first name. Sorry that you got 2 flats. Lots of others gots flats too I heard. My $15 cheap old faithfulls with 4,000 km on them have never flatted on a race for me yet. Damn, just given myself the kiss of death for the bike leg of the Honu IM qualifier!

See ya in less than 2 weeks.

Are you doing Mokuleia sprint tri this Saturday?

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Just got back from Kona last night, my first tri. Swim 41 mins, Bike 3:15 mins, Run 2:52.

The 4 miles of hills on the run were brutal, I know I have alot of work to do.

Keauhou-Kona Triathlon champions repeat

By JOE FERRARO
A Keauhou-Kona Triathlon motorcycle escort headed south on Alii Drive stopped at the Ohana Keauhou Beach Resort and informed a KKT volunteer that Chad Hawker had the lead.

The volunteer asked who was in second and challenging Hawker.

"Who knows?,‘’ the escort responded.

That’s how big a lead Hawker established at that point. The 30-year-old Monterey, Calif., resident won his sixth straight KKT title Sunday in Keauhou with a time of 4:23:42 – almost nine minutes faster than his closest competitor – on a grueling, new course that featured fierce tailwinds and demanding uphill portions in both the 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run stages.

Paula Newby-Fraser won her second consecutive title (4:49:42), but not without struggling during the run stage. She walked between the 4.5- and 5.5-mile markers before consuming salt tablets that helped her get a second wind.

"It was a death march,‘’ Newby-Fraser said of the course.

"I was struggling to breathe,‘’ Hawker said, referring to a tough uphill stretch during the second half of the run.

A total of 523 participants finished the KKT.

Hawker called it the toughest half-Ironman he’d ever competed in. He was the 43rd competitor out of the water (29:13 swim) after completing the 1.2-mile swim in Kailua Bay. He overtook leader Chad Seymour (Honolulu, 23:52 swim) 20 miles into the bike stage. He wasn’t challenged thereafter. Jeff Sanders (Lahaina) took second with a time of 4:32.39.

Both Hawker and Jonathan Barber, the top male Big Island finisher, also found the downhill portions of the run --after the turnaround --challenging.

Barber said the downhills were just as difficult because he expended energy when his legs "acted as brakes.‘’

Kailua-Kona resident Bree Myers, the top Big Island female, also felt the effects of the course, experiencing stomach and back pains.

Newby-Fraser walked for about a mile during the race, also with stomach pains. But she knew she had a sizeable lead entering the run – course officials and volunteers informed her she had an eight-minute lead over Michelle Gwozdo, who finished second among female competitors (4:55:31).

But once the 41-year-old took the necessary nutrients, she finished the race strong.

Newby-Fraser, won’t participate in this October’s Ironman Triathlon, saying last year’s appearance was her last.

"What’s going through my mind is I don’t know if I’m going to finish,‘’ Newby-Fraser said. "I knew if I took some salt tablets and let my heart rate come down, I would probably come around.‘’

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" – on a grueling, new course that featured fierce tailwinds" Just for the record, can there be such a thing on a bike course?
(said in my best Chandler Bing imitation)