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In the tradition rich sport of cycling, the individual time trial has
often been referred to as "The race of truth." The concept is very simple: Riders are sent off one at a time with 30 or 60 seconds usually separating them. The team strategies and drafting, which are a huge part of road racing and criteriums, are thrown out the window. It's simply each rider against the clock, hammering as hard as possible, without blowing up.

The purity of this style of racing is definitely refreshing after weeks of mega controversy over the judging at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Judged sports, like figure skating, boxing and gymnastics, always have and always will be full of disagreement. The age old saying "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" sums it up best.

On Sunday 126 of our state's best cyclists got together for the Hawaii State Cycling Association's first B.A.R. (Best All-around Rider) points race of the season. Kicking off the 2002 schedule was a challenging 12 mile time trial called Castle to Hanauma. The always fun and organized group from Team Boca put on the event that attracted many top names including Matthew Simpson, Thomas Novikoff, and Monique Mata of Oahu, as well as a couple of our Big Island Club Hammerheads, Gary "Ultraman" Shields and Kevin Laszlo.

The course has a few rolling hills along the route and even one solid climb in the final miles that hits the riders near Makapuu and makes them work all the way to the finish at Hanauma Bay. A headwind throughout the ride didn't make things any easier but I'm sure everyone was just happy that nobody was judging their position, cadence or how much spit was dried on their faces.

When all the sweat and dust had settled, Team Boca rider Matthew Simpson ended up with the day's fastest time. His time of 28:30 averaged out to a strong speed of 25.26 m.p.h. and gave him first in the Senior Mens category 1, 2, 3 race. Kona's Gary Shields was next on the list with the only other sub-29 minute time of the day. Despite a mechanical problem during his ride, Shields was still able to clock in at 28:42 (25.08 m.p.h.) and take
second for the Sr. Mens cat. 1, 2, 3 riders.

Third overall and in the same category was one of our state's best young cyclists Thomas Novikoff, He crossed the line in 29:25. Everett Sakai, also a Sr. cat 1, 2, 3 rider took fourth overall in 29:38. Rounding out the top five overall and winning the Master Mens category was Joseph Zwack just one second later at 29:39.

Our other Big Island Cycling Club rider Kevin Laszlo had a strong ride and placed 13th overall and 7th in the Sr. cat 1, 2, 3 competition with a time of 31:36. Also at the race was former Waiakea High School athlete Tai Blechta. Blechta, who is currently attending University of Hawaii, placed 19th overall and 6th for the Sr. mens cat 4-5 riders.

Monique Mata, a great multi-sport athlete, took home the ladies title with a strong ride of 32:07. Her time brought her across the line in 17th overall and 1st in the Senior Womens category. Second went to another strong multi-sport athlete from Oahu, Tina Eakin. She covered the distance in 33:35 and crossed the line in 30th overall. Lisa De Oliveira took third for the seniors in 34:01. Tanya Sells at 34:45 and Jenna Yancey at 36:09 completed the solid Senior Womens and top five overall womens list.

Next H.S.C.A. and Team Boca cycling race will be a team time trial on Sunday March 17th at Waialua High School. For more info on the team time trial or any other Boca Events, call (808) 737-8985 or check out www.bocahawaii.com.

The next morning over 20,000 runners, walkers and moseyers gathered near the Aloha Tower in downtown Honolulu for the 18th Annual Great Aloha Run. The fund raising event that benefits numerous local charities is always popular with the average folks as well as many of our state's elite runners.

This year's run started in waves, which sent off the elite group a bit earlier than in the past. Cool weather and mild winds made for perfect conditions to set fast times on the 8.15 mile course that finished at Aloha Stadium. Even with the staggered start, the first pack was huge and the leaders were forced to go out hard to break away from the masses.

At the one mile mark 1994 champ Jonathan Lyau, Farley Simon, and Naji Abdeslam were all together as they blazed by in 5:03. Missing from the lead group was four time defending champ Malcom Campbell, a Scottish runner who now lives in Altanta, Georgia. Unfortunately, Campbell didn't take note of the new start time and arrived about the same time the leaders hit the mile mark. Quickly Campbell took off and began zig-zagging his way through thousands and thousands of walkers and casual joggers.

Near mile three Abdeslam fell off the pace leaving Lyau and Simon to duel it out alone. Lyau and Simon passed the three mile mark in 15:03 and five miles at 25:42. They stayed together all the way to the stadium, where Lyau threw in one final surge that took him over the line in first at 42:43. Lyau's time was one second faster than his fourth place time for a year ago and only 20 seconds slower than his winning time from 1994.

The 46-year-old Simon, who recently won the Marine Corps Marathon in 2:28:28, followed just a few strides behind with a great time of 42:45. Robert Dickie passed Abdeslam at the six mile mark and motored in for third at 43:29. Abdeslam hung on to fourth at 43:44. Gerardo Avila followed closely in fifth at 43:50.

Despite Campbell's late start he ended up in ninth overall at 44:44. His personal watch showed a time of 39:56 that was even faster than his 2001 winning time of 40:30.

The ladies race ended up being just as close and exciting as the mens with Denmark's Nina Christensen and Sweden's Lisa Bloome pushing each other the entire way. Both run for the Hawaii Pacific University cross country team and planned to run together most of the way. In last year's race Christensen ended up in second in 49:37. This year with her teammate pushing her she was able to take the victory with a great time of 48:17. Bloome was very close behind in 48:23.

Yang Sun Carpenter of Aiea repeated her third place performance from a year ago with a time of 50:33, compared to 50:11 for 2001. Cynthia Moreshead of Boise, Idaho, took fourth at 51:05. This year's high school cross country champion Christal Caudra moved up from eighth last year to take fifth in 51:25. Tina Eakin, who placed second in the time trial the day before, took sixth in 51:28.

Our top Big Island wahine was Rani "The Road Runner" Tanimoto who blazed the course in 51:50 and placed eighth overall. In last year's run Tanimoto placed sixth with a time of 51:25. Not too far behind was Angie Miyashiro of Hilo who placed 12th overall and first in the 45-49 age group with a time of 53:03.
Topping our Big Island mens list was out fearless W.H.T. sports editor Brian "Huli Boy" Perdue in 1:00:28. A few other Big Island times I collected were Ron Myklebust at 1:03:19, Bill "Papa Pea" Pagett at 1:18:49 and Jon Kunitake at 1:41:19. Kunitake probably ran the course twice encouraging his student runners and anyone else who looked like they needed some motivation.

Coming up this weekend will be the second Team Mango triathlon of the year. The Spring Triathlon will get going at 8:00 a.m this Sunday. A 1/3 of a mile swim, 14 mile ride and 2 mile run will make up the event which will be a great way to train for the up coming Lavaman Triathlon to be held on Sunday, April 7th. For info on the Mango Tri call 324-7252 and for more on the Lavaman contact Hawaii Sports Connection at (808) 329-9718 or look on line at sports@ilhawaii.net.

Finally, if you cant to see some amazing swimming today and Saturday check out the high school state championships at the Kona Community Aquatic Center (pool at the Old Airport). The very strong field of swimmers combined with the fast pool could see several state records fall. Our Big island schools should be very well represented by Justin Lee and Karly Kopra of Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Kealakehe's Ashley Rose and a bunch of very strong girls from Waiakea. Go Get Um B.I.I.F. swimmers. You guys are the best! The trials competition on Friday starts at 3:30 p.m. Saturday's finals should get going at 1:00 p.m.

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