Friday, May 28, 1999
Mark Rigg has won the Starbucks Molokai
Challenge three straight years. Clearly,
he's an athlete who likes to...
Take it to the limit
By Cindy Luis
Star-BulletinIT'S just a typical day for Mark Rigg. Clean the yard, bathe the dog, shop at Costco, run errands for his wife, spend time with his three daughters.
Oh, and find time to mentally prepare to defend his Starbucks Molokai Challenge title for a third time this Sunday.
Rigg, a 42-year-old paramedic and former All-America volleyball player at Pepperdine, headlines the largest-ever field of solo canoes that will challenge the Kaiwi Channel. More than 100 paddlers are expected to make the 38-mile crossing from Papohaku Roadstead to the Hawaii Kai Towne Center finish line in what is considered the world championship of kayak and solo canoe racing.
"It's a hard race, but it's something to look forward to each year," Rigg said. "My thing is I'm so competitive. The only thing I'm thinking of is, 'Win.'
"When it gets to the point of exhaustion and fatigue, it becomes really mental, more survival than anything else. It changes your reality for a day."
As a paramedic based at the Hawaii Kai fire station, Rigg deals with life and death on a daily basis. One day it's a car accident, another day it's a boating accident.
Seven years ago, he delivered his youngest daughter in the parking lot of Queen's Medical Center. This after the brakes on the car had given out and he was fortunate to get the green light when making the left off Vineyard to Punchbowl and the hospital.
"I'm used to pushing it, I guess," he said. "Maybe I should have pulled over on the freeway, but I thought we had time."
Rigg has long understood what it takes to push oneself to the limit. He and brothers Scott, Matt and Doug all won NCAA volleyball titles at Pepperdine.
STARBUCKS MOLOKAI CHALLENGE
Sunday, 38 miles
Mark Rigg also has been on Outrigger Canoe Club distance crews that won the Molokai Hoe four times (1986-88 and '90). When he gave up six-man racing to test the one-man waters, he wasn't sure how successful he'd be.
The answer came in 1996 after four hours, 17 minutes and 35 seconds. In his inaugural solo Molokai crossing, he won the first of three consecutive titles.
The goal Sunday is to break four hours. The closest Rigg has come was last year when he edged John Foti by 62 seconds, finishing in 4:06:22.
Foti won't be competing his year. Rigg said he'll miss his rival and friend.
"John and I have had so many head-to-head battles," said Rigg. "With him out, it's not that I'll be able to relax. It's just that he ups the level so high that you know you'll be pushed as far as you can be pushed.
"I know I'll be pushed on Sunday but not as hard as if he were racing."
Last year, the finish came down to one wave. The pair had stayed close most of the race and, at Portlock Point, Foti caught a wave that put him ahead.
Then, when cutting in on the reef, Rigg caught his wave and "that was the race," Rigg said.
Sunday's top competition will come from Walter Guild, the winner of this season's Poai Puni series; Mike Judd, who won the state championship two weeks ago; Karel Tresnak Jr. and past winner Steve Cole.
On the women's side, the Big Island's Cheryle Villegas, the defending champ, is expected to get a strong challenge from 1997 winner Donna Kahakui, who recently paddled 131 miles from the Big Island to Oahu.
The field for kayaks is equally tough with an international flavor. Back is Australia's Dean Gardiner, who has won six of the past seven races, and previous winner Oscar Chalupsky from South Africa.
Tahiti's Lewis Laughlin, recent winner of the Hawaii state championship, is entered, as is U.S. Olympian Greg Barton. The local favorite is Nalu Kukea, who finished less than a minute behind Gardiner last year.
Race conditions will be a factor with bigger waves giving Hawaii paddlers an advantage. Also, several kayak and canoe manufacturers are unveiling new designs and technology for this race, including ones built by Guild, John Puakea, Tom Conner, Billy Robello, Karel Tresnak Sr. and Steve Blythe.
Rigg will paddle a new design named the Ono by Tiger Canoe & Kayak.
The original mold was Tahitian, but it was modified to handle Rigg's 6-foot-4 body and the ocean racing conditions here.
"In Hawaii, we're sort of the pioneers in solo canoes," Rigg said. "This is where the designing is taking place.
"Certain canoes do well in certain conditions. If you make a boat that does well in the channel, you're making a boat that surfs well."
Rigg's boat is longer (22 feet) and wider (18 inches) than the standard canoe. The weight has also dropped to about 23 pounds, considerably lighter than the canoes used even a few years ago.
Rigg said he's been lucky during his crossings. His worst mishap occurred last year when a wave picked up the canoe and the ama (outrigger) rolled under, flipping Rigg out as if he were in a slingshot.
"I lost my water system," he said. "I got back on and thought, 'Oh, it's kind of rough today,'
"You know, the first time I won the Molokai Hoe (1986), it was a real rush. When I quit paddling six-man, I though that was it. Then I got involved in this and have been fortunate to tap into those emotions again.
"The best feeling is being out on the water. It's such an intense, personal and emotional thing. And if you're lucky enough to be in front of the pack and win, it just adds to it. This is my passion."
