KOLOA — The headwinds facing runners in Saturday’s 13th annual Old Koloa Sugar Mill Half Marathon were tough. How tough? Well, Kapaa’s Keoni Kahn Macko put it pretty well: “That area coming back around the Poipu shopping center was pretty
KOLOA — The headwinds facing runners in Saturday’s 13th annual Old Koloa Sugar Mill Half Marathon were tough.
How tough?
Well, Kapaa’s Keoni Kahn Macko put it pretty well: “That area coming back around the Poipu shopping center was pretty brutal.”
At least he and the other 107 half marathoners only had to endure those headwinds for, oh, another three miles. Then, it got better.
“After that, from the turnaround, it felt pretty good because it was kind of pushing you from the side,” said Kahn Macko, who finished the 13.1-mile race in 1 hour, 48 minutes and 29 seconds, good for 24th place, as he prepares for next month’s Honolulu Marathon.
Lihue’s Renato Desouza likewise fought through the conditions and some injuries to finish third in the half in 1:24:03.
“It was a little bit too windy for me because I’m lightweight,” he said.
About 500 runners competed in the event sponsored by the Rotary Club of Kauai. While the winds were constant, morning showers gave way to sun breaks for the races that started and finished on Ala Kinoiki Road near Anne Knudsen Park in Koloa.
In the women’s races, Brooke Sugahara of Kilauea won the half marathon in 1:36:30, while Chelsea Smith-Wishard of Koloa won the 10K in 43:48.
Jennifer Perry of Edmonton, Alberta, won the 5K in 20:36. It was her first race since giving birth to her second daughter, Fiona, four months ago. The trip to Kauai is an annual family vacation to escape the snow back home.
Winning was an added bonus. Her strategy was pretty simple.
“Just run with the top runners and give it your all,” she said.
Visitors dominated the men’s field, taking first in the 5K, 10K and half marathon.
Justin Scheid of New Jersey covered the half marathon in 1:13:16 to easily outdistance the rest of the field.
“I felt really good in the first half,” he said. “It was windy in the second half.”
Scheid, who ran track and cross country at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., is on Kauai for a honeymoon with his wife, Jessica. They heard about the race that was starting just three miles from the Grand Hyatt, where they were staying, so Justin signed up.
“Perfect,” he said.
He thought he could win after checking last year’s times and seeing they were within his range. He held on to the leaders early, then pulled away and ran alone in the later miles. The out-and-back course wound its way through Poipu and offered some ocean views from Hoonani Road.
But gradual uphills, combined with that headwind, made for trying times.
“They tricked me a little bit with that hill before the 10-mile turnaround,” he said. “They make you go to the very top. Other than that, I felt pretty strong most of the way.”
Sean Moran of Salt Lake City topped the 10K in 38:57. He only found out about the Old Koloa Sugar Mill run on Friday and registered that day.
Because it was a bit unexpected, he wasn’t entirely prepared for a hard race.
“We spend all week kind of eating and drinking our way through Kauai, so I felt a little tired,” he said, laughing.
But with family looking on, he held off Lihue’s Dutch Fairbanks (40:03) for first place.
“It felt good to win,” he said.
Another guest to Kauai, Jeff Fyfe of Toronto, captured the 5K in 18:16. His wife Meghan, who finished in 22:45, good for 15th overall, signed them up.
“We heard about it, came out and did it,” Jeff said.
As for winning, that was nice, too.
“It feels good,” hesaid.
An awards ceremony and breakfast followed at Anne Knudsen Park.
The event is a fundraiser for Rotary Club of Kauai to provide scholarships for Kauai’s youth.
