Even though she won’t be physically competing this year, Pam Kruse is destined to leave her mark on this Saturday’s resurgent Kaua‘i Loves You! Triathlon in and around Lihu‘e. While she is “very bummed” that shoulder surgery for a rotator-cuff
Even though she won’t be physically competing this year, Pam Kruse is destined to leave her mark on this Saturday’s resurgent Kaua‘i Loves You! Triathlon in and around Lihu‘e.
While she is “very bummed” that shoulder surgery for a rotator-cuff problem will keep her from competing in the triathlon this year, she is involved as course director for the running portion of the event, and as the personal trainer for several of the Kaua‘i participants.
“They’ve all done really well,” with different strengths and accomplishments, she said of the 16 men and women who have trained with her and her Fitbodies Personal Training LLC, most of whom will be competing in Saturday’s triathlon.
She is founder, owner and operator of Fitbodies, has been doing personal training on Kaua‘i for around 20 years, and has competed in triathlons for 10 years.
“There’s a reason they contact me” to train, the Kalaheo resident said. “They saw me training,” and training people, running on Kaua‘i roads, and they were inspired with what she was doing, she said.
The group grew, mostly with women who had seen their friends getting into “awesome shape,” and wanting to do the same, she said.
“We have some new faces this year,” including some who are also training for next month’s half-Ironman on the Big Island.
It hasn’t been an easy road, as lots of the women born and raised here never learned how to swim real well despite living on an island surrounded by an ocean. Lots of them have a “huge fear of the ocean,” Kruse said.
They tend to be good in the running portion of the training, “because that’s where we started.” A spin class once a week, where those in training prop up their own bicycles on stands and learn how to competitively shift gears and navigate hills, prepares them for the biking phase, and being comfortable on the road, she said.
Even with what for many is intense training, some of her students, Kruse admitted, “have chickened out,” and won’t be competing Saturday.
She talked briefly about the amount of work it has taken to revive the Kaua‘i Loves You! Triathlon, which used to draw world-class triathletes for a race in advance of the granddaddy of all triathlons, the Ironman in Kona on the Big Island.
“It’s a lot of work,” and requires “community support,” she said, giving kudos to Stephanie Rogers, a hard-working triathlon volunteer and aquatics director for the YMCA of Kaua‘i in Puhi.
Rogers, Kruse said, has been instrumental in getting young swim-club members to also volunteer.
“People have no idea what goes on behind the scenes,” how much work is involved to pull off an event like a triathlon, Kruse continued.
“People have to get behind it and stay behind it” in order for the event to continue to be held and grow, she said.
Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics and the YMCA of Kaua‘i are hosting the triathlon, which starts at 7 a.m. with the swimming phase in Kalapaki Bay (750 meters or a half-mile, depending on whether the competitors or teams are participating in the sprint or supersprint distances).
That will be followed by the bike, which will take competitors onto Nawiliwili Road and twice up to and down from the Menehune (Alekoko) Fishpond (20 kilometers or 12 miles), followed by the run portion which will take place for the most part on the grounds of Kaua‘i Lagoons (5K or three miles).
There will be no road closures for the event, though the county parking lot near JJ’s Broiler will be closed from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., as it will be used for the race transition area (where athletes move from the swim to the bike to the run phases).
Cyclists are expected on public roads between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., and motorists are asked to exercise caution during these times on the bike route, Rogers said.
Volunteers will direct traffic as needed.
Race registration can still be accomplished through today online at swimkauai.com, and in person at the YMCA headquarters in Puhi through Friday.
No registrations will be accepted the morning of the event.
Call Rogers, 651-9899, for more information.
Paul C. Curtis, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
