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Tuesday, September 5, 2000
After two consecutive third-place finishes, John Flanagan of Hawaii finally walked away with a victory at yesterday's 2 1/2-mile Waikiki Roughwater Swim from Sans Souci to the Duke Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki. Flanagan roughest
in Waikiki raceBy Ben Henry
Special to the Star-BulletinIt took Flanagan, who recently competed in his first Olympic trials, 48 minutes, 58 seconds to complete the race.
The all-time event record, set in 1995 by Daniel McLellan, is 42:13.
"It was pretty smooth," said Flanagan, 25. "After I got to the first buoy I didn't look back."
Flanagan edged California's Alex Kostich by 12 seconds.
"It was Alex in the lead until the last turn buoy," Flanagan said. "I pulled alongside him on the way in."
Because of the generally uncertain conditions of roughwater swimming, Flanagan said the key was catching the right wave in.
"Coming in, it's all (about) getting lucky," he said. "You can get a minute on someone if you catch the right set."
The race for the top female finisher was even closer.
California's McCall Dorr, 19, narrowly edged Karen Dehmel, also from California, by 4.0 seconds with a time of 56:58.
Pai Chock, 21, was Hawaii's top female finisher, at third place with a time of 57:17.
"I had no idea," Chock said. "I was hoping to be the top local finisher."
The times of the top three female finishers were better than the previous course record of 57:24, set in 1995 by Kasey Giteau.
Chock, who has participated in the event "six or seven times," could not explain why three swimmers swam faster than any female in 31 years of competition.
"It was pretty average," said Chock, referring to the race conditions.
Swimmers had to battle southerly currents and 1- to 3-foot waves in their swim. Those currents, in fact, may have slowed the swimmers down.
"It's like swimming upstream," Chock said.
The event is the largest open swimming race in the world, with 953 participants this year, event organizers said.