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With the 20th Annual Keauhou Kona Triathlon just over a week away there has been a noticeable increase in physical activity around town. Fortunately we've also had a very full event calendar so our very fit triathletes can test themselves in all three of their sports.

This past weekend's schedule shaped up perfectly with the Hawaii State Time Trial Championship on Saturday and the Peaman Mothers Day Classic Biathlon on Sunday. The turnout for the time trial was good with a few of our state's top cyclists, several strong triathletes and a wide variety of age groupers showing up for a 24.8 mile race against the clock. Since time
trialing is an individual sport, it's a perfect way to get a true test of your fitness level on the bike.

It was great that event director and the Aloha Cycling Team were able to bring the State Championship here but I was also surprised that several of our state's top riders chose not to participate. This left the door wide open for any of the nearly sixty riders to earn a state title in their category.

The one way, all out, pedal to the metal race started near the bottom of Hina Lani St. (Costco Hill) and traveled north on Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway to the finish near the Waikoloa resorts. When all the riders had finished Joshua Frick, a former pro rider who recently moved to Maui, ended up with the day's best time of 1:00:54.

Joe Zwack, a strong multi-sport athlete from Oahu, was a solid 2nd at 1:01:47. Kona's own Gary "Ultraman" Shields took 3rd at 1:02:11. All three of the top finishers were competing in the Senior Mens 1-5 category.

Heath Catching of Kailua-Kona turned a few heads with his 4th overall and 4th Senior 1-5 finish of 1:07:02. Tony Locey won the Masters 45-49 title and took 5th overall at 1:07:21.

Jenna Yancey (Senior Women 1-5) finished with the top wahine time of 1:11:44. Kona's Maggie Grenier took 2nd wahine and 1st in the Masters 35-39 category at 1:12:11. Another superb Kona athlete, Dee Ann Mitchell (Senior 1-5) was 3rd in 1:22:22.

Kona athletes wrapped up the rest of the top five with Lisa Nelsen (Senior 1-5) in 4th at 1:14:13 and Janet Higa-Miller (Master 40-44) in 5th at 1:17:59.

Penn Henderson was the day's fastest mountain biker in 1:18:51. Lana Williams and Cory Foulk teamed up to take the tandem bike crown with their time of 1:29:17.

With the cycling part of the weekend done all that was left was to see how everyone's swimming and running was going. The Peaman Mothers Day Classic has been a pre-race tradition for a bunch of our Keauhou Triathlon hopefuls as well as a great way for families to start off Mothers Day with some good,
healthy fun. This year's "pre-brunch" event started off with a slightly revised 3/4 mile swim in Kailua Bay. Fortunately the large surf cooperated and everyone made it out of the water safe and sound.

It actually was quite nice in the water where Jim Mellon blazed to the lead and stayed there all the way to the finish. Mellon clocked in at 16:29 with Moose Mullahey at 17:32 and Martin Petrofes at 18:28 being his nearest competitors. Fortunately for Mellon, both Moose and Petrofes were in the swim only category which gave Mellon a big Lead starting the 3 mile run. Finally, Jason Freitas exited the ocean as the 2nd individual in 18:37 with
Erik Winkler another 28 seconds back in 3rd at 19:05.

Mellon, who just one week earlier won the Cinco de Mayo Swim, reached the halfway point still in front and running smooth. Behind him, Jah Peaple, Cullen Burgess and Harry Yoshida were all running their way through the field and closing in on Mellon.

Down the home stretch, Mellon's strong swim and solid run proved to be too much as he strided across the finish line in 1st at 39:19. Jah Peaple ran his way past everyone to take 2nd in 40:38. Last year's 5th place finisher, Cullen Burgess, took 3rd at 40:56. Yoshida "hammered" into 4th at 41:04. Freitas hung on for 5th in 41:15.

The wahine race was similar to the mens with "swim only" competitors Kelly Hoyle (18:33) and Sarah Lee (18:39) leading after the swim while the strong runners were setting themselves up to blister the pavement. Melanie Aiona did just that by posting the fastest wahine run of 21:29 and crossing the line 1st at 43:22.

Last year's Moms Day champ Laurie Beers used a steady swim and run to take 2nd at 46:22. Pamela Harlow took 3rd in 50:29. Mouse Kelley scampered her way to 4th at 51:02. Marcia Kreofsky's time of 51:14 gave her the final spot in the top 5.

In the finned division it was no surprise to see Rani "The Road Runner" Tanimoto and Janet Scott out front with their times of 41:53 and 43:55. Tim Wiley topped the mens leader board in 48:23. Brian "Honu" Perdue found the power of fins to his liking and took 2nd for the men in 54:32.

The race to be the fastest Split Pea ended up being a close one as the duo of Dane Enos (swim) and David Kermott (run) battled Paul Carney (swim) and Graham Haines (run) all the way to the end. Enos gave Kermott a lead of 49 seconds over Haines but with each mile Haines was closing in. With about 1/2 mile to go Kermott's lead was down to just a few yards. Finally the
finish appeared and Kermott crossed the line in 40:37 with Haines a few strides back at 40:45.

The mixed team of H.P.A. athletes Paloma Vidgen and Matthew Concepcion took 3rd overall and 1st in the Corporate Relays with their time of 41:21. The Finned Split Pea champs were Bill Yano and Thor Stensby in 45:04.

Stensby's son Marius also topped his division on Sunday by winning the Pea Wee race in a time of 12:13. The 250 yard swim and 1 mile run course for Peaple of all ages is always a lot of fun. Justin Carney blazed the run in 8:05 to take 2nd at 13:32. Kiana Scott once again was the fastest wahine in 15:58.

Pohaku easily took the K9 Pea Wee title with a dog paddle of 6:52 and a trot of 25:40 for a total time of 32:32. On the longer course Kili Geba proved to be the fastest K9 with a time of 1:16:48.

The day's final honor, the Perpetual Pea was passed for the 88th time in the past 15 years to the very inspirational Scott Family. Mom and Dad, Kalani and Janet, are both great examples of keeping fit and with son Kalani and daughter Kiana turning out for many events with them they truly represent what Pea Events are all about, fitness, fun, family and friends.

Next up on our local Pea schedule will be the Peaman Dads Day Stroke and Stride on Sunday June 16th at 8:00. Keep your eyes and ears open on this one as we may have a distance change. Shorter!

A few weeks ago our list of international Peaman events grew as Aaron Motola put on a fun and short Peaman Biathlon at University of San Diego. Motola, who grew up as a regular at Pea Events here in Kona, has been doing a great job of sharing his Pea Spirit all over the world.

His first contribution to the family of Pea races was Peaman Chile. His recent collegiate event at USD was very successful with almost 2 dozen students showing up for a short pool swim and run.

Dihn Tran won the race in 9:12 with Carolyn Gorrick and Jaime Jackson tied for 2nd at 11:00. Leander Salles-Cunha followed in 4th at 12:09. Motola himself clocked in 5th overall with a time of 12:55.

Tops for the Split Peas went to Dihn Tran and Ryan Marble with they day's fastest time overall of 9:01:00. Hopefully we'll continue to see this around the country as more of our Peas leave the pod for bigger and better things.

In another bit of good news from afar, James Cotter recently returned home with 3rd place finish in the Olympic distance Collegiate Division of the Jamba Juice Wildflower Triathlon. Over 2000 of our countries best young triathletes participated in the event. Look for Cotter up front with the leaders in both the Keauhou and Tinman Triathlons.

This weekend's aerobic activities offer up a variety of running races. On Saturday you can walk or run 3.1 miles at the Visitor Industry Charity Walk and Run. Start time will be 7:00 a.m. at the Elderly Airstrip. Call 880-3392 for details.

On Sunday East Hawaii will host the fun and fitness with the Big Island Marathon, 10.8 and 3.1 mile run/walks. for info on the races call 969-7400.

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