Participants of the 9th annual Ohana Fit Fest ran, walked, hopped, crawled and climbed their way through Princeville on Saturday.
Obstacles throughout the 5k course challenged runners and walkers as they traveled, covering ground through the golf course and Princeville path. There were more than 200 people who attended the event, with 65 volunteers who helped to keep the fundraiser up and running.
Ohana Fit Fest was presented by Kauai North Shore Community Foundation in partnership with Princeville at Hanalei Community Association and Princeville Makai Golf Club.
“This year’s proceeds are going to go towards trail maintenance and beach access. Each year we do something different,” said event organizer and foundation board member Ken Rosenthal.
“Last year we didn’t hold the event, but we did a fundraiser and we raised quite a bit of money that is going to go towards outdoor fitness equipment. It’s similar to the Kupuna Park equipment, and it’s going to go down the treeline. So the equipment is here and it is going to be installed later this month.”
The course started at Prince Albert Park, connected to Princeville Path, traveled through Makai Golf Course, looped back to the path and through the Woods Course, and finally ended back at Prince Albert Park. Runners were timed and medals were awarded for first, second, and third place per age division.
The overall male finisher, who completed the race with a time of 25 minutes 19 seconds, was Josiah Tolvo of San Diego, Calif. Tolvo was also first place in his age division for ages 20 to 29 years old. Tolvo had a big smile on his face as he came bursting through the finish line. Tolvo was humble as he provided words of encouragement: “Just get out there and do it. I almost didn’t go I was so tired this morning, but I decided to just do it.”
Overall female finisher, who completed the race with a time of 29 minutes 59 seconds, was Jill Ackerman of Kilauea. Ackerman also took first place in her age division for ages 20 to 29 years old. Ackerman was feeling proud and good about her results. She shared this advice to others looking to compete: “Don’t stop. Just keep going. Don’t stop or else you won’t want to start again, just keep going.”
Annelies Wentzel of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, ranked first in her age division for ages 30 to 39 years old. She said she enjoyed the experience.
“It was beautiful, probably one of the prettiest runs I have been on. It was fun. It was really well organized,” Wentzel said.
She also recounted her favorite obstacle — the balance beam — and how she got through it.
“I just had to kinda slow things down, focus, and then just kind of trust the process,” Wentzel said.
George Auberger, who is from Kilauea, took first place in his age division for ages 50 to 59 years old. Auberger also came to the Ohana Fit Fest in 2018. But this time he ran the race with his son Sean Auberger.
“There were many more obstacles this year. The balance beam was a lot harder after you run for a while. The spiderweb was tough because you get tangled as you’re trying to get through,” George Auberger said.
Sean Augerger was more optimistic, laughing and remarking that he thought the balance beam was “easy” and added: “It was fun, if you can’t run it, then just walk it. The obstacles are great because they give you a break from running.”
Family members and friends also mingled about, grabbed good eats, talked story and listened to music by The Party. Also available to the community through the Ohana Fit Fest was a silent auction and a variety of vendors, which included booths with different kinds of food for sale, as well as clothing, jewelry, artwork, and other wares.
Rosenthal said the event was a success.
“It was great to get back to normalcy after COVID, it was a fun, recreational, exciting event with great music, food, friends, and a little competitiveness,” he said. “I think the course was fantastic, it was hard enough to make it challenging, but not too challenging and that’s what our goal was.”
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Monique Kemper is a lifelong North Shore resident who lives in Princeville and writes periodically for The Garden Island.
