Monday, May 7, 2001
Canoe race It may have been called the Kaiwi Channel World Relay Team Championship, but it was more of a race that was all in the family.
has photo finish
The top 2 men's teams in the
By Grace Wen
Kaiwi Channel World Relay Team
Championships are a second apart
Star-BulletinBrothers-in-law Mike Judd and Nate Hendricks battled stroke-for-stroke to the finish line at Ala Wai Harbor yesterday in the 40.2-mile outrigger canoe team relay race that began off Molokai. Judd and partner John Foti edged out Hendricks and his partner, 18-year-old solo canoe world-record holder Karel Tresnak Jr., by one second and a distance that was almost too short to measure.
Judd and Foti were timed in 5 hours, 1 minute and 31 seconds with the team of Hendricks-Tresnak clocking in at 5:01:32. Third-place finishers Kea Paiaina and Kai Bartlett came in some nine minutes later at 5:10:02.
"I wasn't sure what was going to happen,'' an emotional and exhausted Judd said after crossing the finish line. "All we could do is maximize what we had and that's what we did. We ended up coming out ahead.
"I knew that they would be tough and the other teams would be tough but I had no idea it would be like this."
Foti agreed.
"We had a strong start and had all kinds of different competition early on. Karel and Nate were pretty far back,'' he said. "I never thought that they would be the factor they turned out to be.
"It's the closest race ever. It just doesn't get closer than that. Twenty seconds in a five-hour race is a close race. One second doesn't happen."
But it did.
Foti and Judd led for much of the race. After the first two hours, the top three finishers had separated themselves from the field.
Tresnak and Hendricks trailed for the first three hours before they caught up to Judd and Foti. The battle continued for 90 minutes before Tresnak and Hendricks passed Judd and Foti off Hawaii Kai' they stretched it into a 40-second lead off Diamond Head.
Hendricks switched back in the boat and tried to hold off the quickly closing Judd.
"It was a dog fight the whole way," Tresnak said. "Everything we planned on doing happened except winning."
Said Hendricks: "You push yourself to the limit, the last thing you want to do is be battling with your brother-in-law who's phenomenal.
"Mike and John are just phenomenal paddlers. We had a strategy that I would be faster in the flat water than Junior (Tresnak). Junior was faster in the surf so we worked that strategy. It paid off pretty good but we were three inches short."
Foti and Judd, however, used more of a defensive strategy to win the race, deciding to cover the leading competitors as both are well-rounded paddlers.
Judd never doubted catching Hendricks and Tresnak but he didn't expect to do it at the very end. It was the first canoe relay race the duo competed in together.
The woman who links Hendricks and Judd wasn't worrying about which man to root for because she was paddling in the race herself.
Carrie Sue Hendricks - Judd's sister - and her partner Cherisse Kelii finished second in the woman's competition at 6:47:19. The team was some three minutes behind winners Darcie Wilcox and Katie Curtis (6:43:44).
At first, Hendricks and Kelii thought they had won.
"We had no idea that Katie and Darcie passed us, but they snuck in somewhere," Hendricks said. "I'm so stoked for them. They deserved their win.
Like Hendricks, Wilcox was also uncertain about the results.
"We weren't actually sure that we were winning until we finished because someone said that other girls had finished," Wilcox said. "But we weren't that worried because we didn't expect to win."
Last year's winner Donna Kahakui finished third with partner Nicole Montel.
Other OC-1 division winners were: Steve Blyth-Scott Jones (Men's Masters 40); Amy Young-Beverly Tuaolo (Women's Masters 40); Gaylord Wilcox/Nappy Napoleon (Men's Masters 50); and Nicole and Mike Pedersen (Mixed Open).
In the OC-2 competition, where a three-person team was involved, Marc Haine, Mark Rigg and Greg Poole finished first the open men's division in 5:25:52. Denise Darval-Chang, Earle Chang and Bruce Blankenfeld won the open mixed division in 6:17:03.
Men Kaiwi Channel relay
Place, name, time
OC-1 open--1. John Foti and Mike Judd, 5 hours, 1 minute and 31 seconds; 2. Karel Tresnak Jr. and Nate Hendricks 5:01:32; 3. Kea Paiaina and Kai Bartlett 5:10:02; 4. Aaron Napoleon and Joe Napoleon 5:14:33;
5. Jim Foti and Ravin Aipa 5:14:37; 6. Tibert Lussia and Billy Balding 5:20:12; 7. Kalani Irvine and Pete Binney 5:30:47; 8. Bill Pratt and Eric Lavora 5:30:58;
9. Manny Kulukulaulani and Tapaani Worthington 5:33:13; 10. Alan Lipp and Bruce Ayau 5:36:06; 11. Rory Frampton and Mark Kawaiaea 5:39:32; 12 Todd Bradley and Byron Ho 5:40:25;
13. Robbie Solmssen and Ax Solmssen 5:42:20; 14. Kamuela Lau and Georges Crowstedt 5:45:47; 15. Kealii Martin and George Leslie 5:46:33; 16. Peter Komohia and JB Guard 5:50:11;
17. James Beaton and Tim Twigg-smith 5:53:11; 18. JP Mihibauer and Richard Olsen 5:58:11; 19. Keoki Lindsey and Keone Lindsey 6:00:00; 20. Garrett Kim and Chad Cabral 6:00:56;
21. dean Maeva and Aukai Lee 6:03:19; 22. Keko Bruhn and Ka;ai Bruhn 6:04:22; 23. Daniel Espinoza and pat Kawales 6:06:03; 24. Greg Davis and Charles Hattaway 6:11:00;
25. Ikaika Kanuha and Ikaika Hauanio 6:14:14; 26. Ralf Gray and Bruce Black 6:14:16; 27. Derek Lee Loy and Nahina Lee Loy 6:24:05; 28. March Taylor and Pepper Chong 6:28:31;
29. Kai Ahsam and Tad Yamahita 6:28:45; 30. Rick Hobson and Cana Bay 6:29:04; 31. Gregory Gomes and William Anderson 6:31:52; 32. James Richmond and Keanu Kuna 6:41:00;
33. Noah Auna and Herb Nahimu 6:48:29; 34. Mike Hanagai and Eddie McGowan 6:52:04; 35. Sean Keenan and Scottt Delray 6:52:25; 36. Britt Craven and Kevin Lindsey 6:57:00; 37. Herb Decambra and Eric Soto 7:02:42.
OC-1 masters 40--1. Steve Blyth and Scott Jones 5:28:46; 2. Pat Erwin and Beenie Heen 5:37:56; 3. Joseph Derek Vinuya and Kawika Williams 5:45:07; 4. Same Lam and Fred Delo Santos 5:50:08;
5. Gene McNemy and Mike O'Shaughnessy 6:02:08; 6. Nainoa Thompson and Harold Akeo 6:07:24; 7. Bruce Lukas and Kamoa Kalama 6:10:59;
8. Wally Hamasaki and Paul Hewlett 6:22:19; 9. Jeff Cummings and Joe Perry 6:30:04; 10. Cris Kincaid and Seve Cole 6:33:37; 11. Jacques Blais and Daniel Leyna 6:45:08;
12. John Chang and Jim Hewitt 6:52:33; 13. Cory Mehau and Pete Roney 6:58:30; Ron Baron and David Johnson 7:05:08.
OC-1 masters 50--1. Gaylord Wilcox and Nappy Napoleon 6:13:41; 2. Jeff Metzger and Dennis Yap 6:15:44; 3. Chris Crabb and Hank Leandro 6:16:18; 4. Cap Allen and Dennis Campbell 6:26:56; 5. Tay Perry and Rodney Romans 6:44:08.
OC-2 open--1. Marc Haine, Mark Rigg and Gregg Poole 5:25:52; 2. Pat Vonn, Greg Edwards and Mike Beyer 5:34:53; 3. Dane Enos, Gregg Knap and Tony Fitzpatrick 6:38:43; 4. Jack Dyson, Eric Barton and John McCandless 6:47:23; 5. George Medeiros, Kem Rugerson and Jared St. John 7:36:29.Women
OC-1 open--1. Darcie Wilcox and Katie Curtis 6:43:44; 2. Carrie Sue Hendricks and Cherissee Kelii 6:47:19; 3. Donna Kahakui and Nicole Montel 6:47:33; 4. Theresa Felgate and Noelani Sawyer 6:52:24;
5. Patty Emes and Jessie Emes 6:54:58; 6. Cheryl Villegas and Kelly Fey 6:56:27; 7. Megan Clark and Loretta Toth 6:58:42; 8. Paula Crabb and Megan Harrington 6:57:34;
9. Margie Kawaiaea and Lauren Spalding 6:57:57; 10. Mary Brewer adn J. Carswell 7:01:40; 11. Joselyn Hakach and Andrea Moller 7:06:18; 12. Nicki Enos and Beth Graves 7:16:56;
13. Jackie Taylor and Ronona Della Cloppa 7:20:10; 14. Catherine Bender and Alison Reid 8:23:18.
OC-1 masters 40--1. Amy Young and Beverly Tuaolo 7:07:01; 2. Nancy Esse and Pam Precott 7:22:32; 3. Camie Kimball and Choppie Kalama 7:32:35; 4. Susan Shaw and Barb Bell 7:39:29; 5. Reina Garcia and Lurline McGregor 8:25:09.Mixed
OC-1--1. Nichole Pedersen and Mike Pedersen 6:11:57; 2. Susan Cordell and Kenny Powell 6:23:24; 3. Torrey Goodman and Paul Gay 6:36:10; 4. Mikala Hetland and Norm Bradley 6:39:54; 5. Lucky Ho'okano and Jo Ho'okano 7:34:49.
OC-2 open--1. Denise Darval-Chang, Earle Chang and Bruce Blankenfeld 6:17:03; 2. Ricky Balidoy, Reggie Balidoy and Sharon Balidoy 6:29:02; 3. Katie Slocuumb, Brad Cole and Jon Emerson 6:32:48.