FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Oscar Chalupsky crossed the finish line in Hawaii Kai yesterday with his 10th win in the Oiwi Molokai World Championship.
Chalupsky pulls ahead
of Gardiner in Oiwi MolokaiThe 40-year-old passes the
Aussie on career win list
Oscar Chalupsky was the oldest among the top competitors in the men's surfski division yesterday at the 27th annual Oiwi Molokai World Championship. But he also proved himself the best -- ever.
The 40-year-old from Durban, South Africa, picked up his record 10th career victory in the 32-mile race from Molokai to Oahu across the Kaiwi Channel. At 3 hours, 28 minutes and 33 seconds, he finished less than a minute ahead of second-place Dean Gardiner of Australia, who shared the mark for most wins at nine.
"Me having won 10, it's not a bad record," Chalupsky said. "It's great. You always have your doubts, something can go wrong."
"It's obviously got to be the sweetest win, being the 10th one," he added. "There was a lot of pressure on me to do it -- back home, around the world, guys saying 'he's 40 years old, over-the-hill' -- it's a very nice one to win."
With 98 entries from eight countries, the race began at 8 a.m. at Papohaku Roadstead and finished at Hawaii Kai Towne Center. It is considered the world championship of solo surfski (kayak) and canoe paddling (though a few competed in two-person crafts).
Conditions included favorable tradewinds and 6- to 12-foot-face surf, but competitors also battled a receding tide that was pushing them both out and away as they approached Oahu.
Chalupsky first participated in the Molokai 20 years ago, and in the 11 times he has entered, he's won all but once. He won seven straight in one stretch during the 1980s, but yesterday was the first time he competed since his last victory in 2000.
Chalupsky sat as far back as fifth place yesterday, before making a hard push at Portlock Point off Hawaii Kai. He also overcame paddling the last two-thirds of the race without any juice left in his fluids bottle, and getting tangled with a fishing line in Maunalua Bay.
"I wasn't catching (up on anyone), wasn't catching, wasn't catching -- and then suddenly I thought, 'I better get going because the end's coming near,' " he said. "I could feel I had a bit (of strength left) on Dean, and I pulled hard...I just put my head down and didn't look back."
The one time that Chalupsky finished runner-up came against Gardiner, in 1999. And the 38-year-old Australian, who owns the race record (3:21:26), led for most of yesterday's race, but could not withstand the late move from Chalupsky and crossed at 3:29:42.
"I was pretty comfortable, I felt pretty good for most of it," said Gardiner, at times around 300 yards in front of his nearest competitor. "But then the last half an hour I just fell apart. When you look at the field and the closeness of it, I think everyone gave their all; Oscar just had that little (extra)."
Australian Clint Robinson (3:30:33) finished third in the men's surfski, while Chalupsky's brother, Herman (3:30:59), took fourth. Five-time champion Grant Kenny (3:32:26) of Australia placed fifth.
In other major-division competition, Oahu's Karel Tresnak Jr. won his fourth title in five years in the men's canoe division at 3:51:32. Australia's Kirsty Holmes finished first in the women's surfski at 4:22:25, while defending champion Lauren Spalding of Maui scored a convincing victory in the women's canoe at 4:30:00. Division winners took home $1,000 each.
Tresnak, 22, who also won the state championship last month, picked up his ninth victory in 10 solo races this year. Overall, he was the ninth paddler to cross the finish line. "I can't ask for anything more this year," he said. "You don't want to jinx the main race by winning every other race, so it was kinda like good to lose that one, put it all in perspective."
Oahu's Kai Bartlett established the men's canoe race record (3:42:37) last year while Tresnak was away at college, but this time finished a close second at 3:52:57. Rounding out the top four spots were Mike Judd (3:56:51) and Maui Kjeldsen (4:04:38).
Spalding, who established the women's canoe race record (4:28:31) in 2002, went undefeated this year in her solo canoe, though she spends most of her time in a K-1 craft (kayak) training for the U.S. World Team trials next month.
"It feels even better the second time," Spalding said of defending her championship. "I was hoping I wasn't the one-hit wonder."
Surfskis are considered faster, but the 23-year-old Spalding was the second woman overall to finish, less than eight minutes behind Holmes and more than a half-hour ahead of Dane Ward (5:01:37), who placed second in the women's canoe. Noe Sawyer (5:02:10) finished third in the division.
Yesterday was Holmes' first Kaiwi Channel crossing in a surfski, though she had done it on two previous occasions in a six-person canoe. "I've been wanting to do this race for quite a long time," she said. "I knew I had the surf skills to get through it, but it was a bit of an unknown because I hadn't done it before ... I just did the best I could and I'm happy to come out with a win."
The 29-year-old was sick in the week leading up to the race, but still finished well ahead of second-place Maggie Twigg-Smith (4:31:18) and third-place Zoe Norcrocc-Nuu (4:31:32).
