JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Team Bradley was nearly flawless on its changes yesterday en route to a Na Wahine O Ke Kai victory.

Team Bradley lives
up to the hype

The pre-race favorite leads from
start to finish in the annual 41-mile
Na Wahine O Ke Kai

It is one thing to have the distinction as the pre-race favorite in the biggest event in your sport. But it's something so much more to actually deliver when race day comes.

Team Bradley did exactly that yesterday, coming through with a convincing start-to-finish victory yesterday at the 27th annual Na Wahine O Ke Kai, a 41-mile trek from Molokai to Oahu across the Kaiwi Channel that is considered the world championship of women's long-distance outrigger canoe paddling.

Made up mostly of paddlers from Hawaii, with a single Australian and Canadian also in the crew, Team Bradley brought the championship back home to the Islands after a two-year stay Down Under in a time of 5 hours, 56 minutes and 16.8 seconds.

"This is it, this is the Super Bowl," said Team Bradley's Lauren Spalding, a Maui resident who is an Olympic kayaker and has won multiple solo crossings of the channel but never this race previously. "This is the coolest feeling ... it's been a goal, a dream -- to win it takes the cake. You look at all these girls (on Team Bradley), and there's not one weak link.

"I never like to go into a race thinking we're the favorites -- that's just not my style. Our main goal was just to have a good race, mistake-free, and winning is just the ultimate bonus -- especially in this race."

An international field of 72 crews started the race at Hale O Lono Harbor, Molokai, with the finish at Duke Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki.

Team Bradley had gone undefeated in their three most-recent races leading up to the Na Wahine -- thus, the hype. It last won the Na Wahine in 1999 as Wailua Kayak & Canoe, and placed in the top four overall in the five championships between that one and yesterday's race.

This year's crewmembers said they dedicated themselves to preparing well this time and made an effort to practice together more than in the past, and it showed with the crew taking the lead right from the outset yesterday and racing pretty much error-free the entire 41 miles.

Team Bradley was challenged by a handful of crews early, but that later dwindled to only Oahu-based Hui Lanakila, which could never really get closer than a quarter-mile of the leader and ended up second overall at 6:00:11.

"We gave everything we had," said Seraphina Eames of Hui Lanakila. "They were right there in front of us. We kept changing lines, surfing the best we could. (Team Bradley is) an outstanding crew."

Outrigger of Waikiki, the runner-up the previous two years, made it a Hawaii sweep of the top three spots, crossing in 6:03:18.

Compared to 1999's win, "we worked a lot harder for this one -- all year," said Team Bradley steerswoman Noelani Auger of Kauai. "Last time, we were kind of lucky -- really lucky. This one means a lot more. ... It's about as perfect as I wanted it."

Newport Aquatic Center of California (6:05:38) was the first non-Hawaii team to finish, placing fourth overall. Another California crew, Lanakila Outrigger (6:10:23), took fifth, while the Waikiki Beach Boys (6:12:41) finished sixth.

Crews were permitted 10 total paddlers, with six in the canoe at a time and rotations made with open-ocean changes. Other Team Bradley crew members included: Dane Ward, Theresa Felgate and Margie Kawaiaea of Maui; Darcie Gray of Kauai; Cherisse Kelii of the Big Island; Kelly Fey from Oahu; Shelley Oates-Wilding of Australia; and Lori Velisek of Canada.

Team Bradley's winning time was well off the record (5:22:12) Mooloolaba of Australia set last year, but there wasn't a strong south swell to help the paddlers in the home stretch like 2004, either. There were some small open-ocean swells to surf in the channel, but for the most part it was very sticky, which was compounded by a headwind.

The winner in 2003 as well, Mooloolaba chose not to participate yesterday. But that doesn't take anything away from the victory, according to Team Bradley.

"Sure, it would have been nice to have them here," said Spalding, "but if they couldn't come, they couldn't come."

And there was also that one Aussie who was particularly glad the Na Wahine championship trophy would not again be going Down Under -- Team Bradley's own Oates-Wilding.

"I've been lucky enough to win this race many years ago with Offshore (California), and then I won it a couple of times with (Rigeroos of) Australia," said the two-time Olympic kayaker, "and it's nothing like it, to win with a Hawaiian team. The Hawaiians know what the race is about, in terms of the spirituality, the ohana -- it's been wonderful. ... I feel blessed that I was allowed to be a part of this Hawaiian culture. This one was the most special by far."

Other division winners yesterday included: Kahiau/Hawaiian (6:41:51) in the masters 40 and older; Puuwai 50s Coconuts (7:19:50) in the masters 50 and older; and Outrigger 2 (6:34:58) in the koa canoe division.

The 54th Molokai Hoe, the world championship of long-distance canoe paddling for men, will cover the same course on Oct. 9.