We are currently on the flight home from Kona! What a fun trip and great race! The race was the Honu Ironman 70.3, or the ½ Ironman Distance on some of the famed Hawaii Ironman course. We had a strong group of athletes representing KP in Hawaii! Kain Performance had the biggest team out there, as well as the most supportive! The course is very tough with a 1.2 mile rough water ocean swim, a 56 mile, hilly, windy bike, and a 13.1 mile run over rolling hills in the searing heat! The course takes place north of the town of Kailua-Kona, out of the Mauna Lani Resort. The swim and T1 takes place at Hapuna Beach State Park, while T2 and the finish are on the Mauna Lani Resort grounds.

The race was very well done, with some 1,200 athletes competing. The race started at 7:00AM with a mass start, all 1,200 athletes going in at the same time! This makes for a very exciting start! Swimming in Hawaii is a treat. The ocean water is warm and the salt water makes you very buoyant. We swam over some coral reefs and if you were lucky, saw some sea turtles (Honu) and Mana Ray’s. The run from the water was a good one with a little hill up to transition.

The bike ride was 56 miles over some of the same course as the Ironman World Championships in October. We lucked out with the weather on race day, with some light wind, but not the brutal winds that can make it very tough to race here. The ride goes up to Hawi, then turns around and heads back to the Mauna Lani. The ride is very tough, with lots of climbing up to the turnaround, then gets very fast and fun with a screaming descent coming back from Hawi! By the time you get off your bike, the sun is up and it gets HOT! Not a lot of shade under those Palm tree’s, so the run is tough!

The run course went along the streets and golf course of the Mauna Lani Resort. The run course is very tough, with lots of little rolling hills and the ever present heat. We went down into the “Pit of Despair” as Judy D. called it, between miles 10-12. A very hot and desolate road out in the lava fields with no shade. The finish was in front of the Mauna Lani Hotel. The KP Team all were very supportive of each other, with lots of smiles and high fives! Coach Sharoo got the KP Team “wave” going as more KP finishers came down the finish shoot! They had the best cheers of the whole day!

The entire KP Team in attendance did great! We had lots of PR’s for the ½ Ironman Distance, even with the tough conditions. Leading the way was Coach Kain, who placed 11th overall, 3rd Amateur overall and 1st in the 40-44 age group in 4:26. He turned down the Hawaii Ironman spot. Coach Sharoo also had a stellar day finishing 9th Women overall and 1st in the 40-44 age group in 5:05. She also turned down the Hawaii Ironman spot. Lynn Rosser also won her 65-69 age division! She took a spot to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Florida in November. Tony Jager also qualified and took a spot for the Ironman 70.3 Worlds in November.

Here are all the awesome KP finishers from the Honu Ironman 70.3:

Coach Kain – 4:26:46 – (11th overall/3rd overall amateur/1st age group 40-44)
Jacco Van der Kooij – 4:51:07 (New PR on this course! 3rd time racing Honu)
Tony Jager – 4:58:35 (New PR for ½ Ironman)
Coach Sharoo – 5:05:15 (9th Women overall/1st age group 40-44)
Melody Davila – 5:21:22 – (7th Age group 30-34)
Nick Daugherty – 5:26:39
Bo Perez – 5:34:26
Kim Hammett – 5:34:28
Josh Mader – 5:36:16
Russell Shaw – 5:39:54 (New ½ IM bike PR by 7 minutes!)
Nikki Barber – 6:00:49 (6:00 is history next year!)
Jana Crane – 6:05:38
Steve Capobianco – 6:15:51
Steve Murphy – 6:22:05
Karen Wells – 6:29:39
Jody Gold – 6:37:27
Linda Graham – 6:42:15
Gordan Graham – 6:50:55
Robyn Capobianco – 6:54:37
Beth Stern – 6:59:02
Judy Desherlia – 7:11:25
Joanne Wicker – 7:22:36
Lynn Rosser – 7:37:34
Jack Rosser – 8:14:18

Congratulations to all of our KP Honu Ironman 70.3 finishers! You all have the Aloha Spirit! A BIG Thank You to Josh Mader, who put together a great Post Race Luau at his Dads place in Puako, just down the road from the finish! For everyone looking for a fun ½ Ironman race to do next year, put the Honu 70.3 on your calendar! KP will be coming back! Many of the KP Team are still hanging out in the islands catching some well deserved R & R!!!