Mitchell 6-peats

Another year, another triumph for Jamie Mitchell in the Quiksilveredition Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race.

Coasting in with a record time of 4 hours, 48 minutes, the Australian was as unbeatable as ever in winning his sixth straight contest across the 32-mile Ka'iwi Channel.

His closest competition, countryman Bruce Taylor, finished a whopping 26 1/2 minutes back.

Australian Shakira Westdorp, in the race for the first time, won the women's title in 5:59:52 over Hawaii's Kanesa Duncan, a five-time winner.

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GETTING STRONGER Jamie Mitchell has won six straight Molokai to Oahu paddlebaord races: Year Time Runner-up Margin 2007 4:48:23 Bruce Taylor 26:37 2006 5:19:26 Zane Holmes 17:12 2005 5:05:09 Brian Rocheleau 1:26 2004 4:56:03 Corey Hutchings 2:16 2003 5:42:15 Brian Rocheleau 1:51 2002 5:44:40 Aaron Bitmead 5:51

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The phrase "You know what, I felt the best I've ever felt" coming from Jamie Mitchell is probably not something any of his paddleboarding opponents ever want to hear.

But with another crushing performance in this year's Quiksilveredition Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race, the 30-year-old Australian cemented his sixth straight and overall win through the 32-mile Ka'iwi Channel.

Mitchell sliced through the mostly favorable water like a spear for a record time of 4 hours, 48 minutes and 23 seconds, obliterating his own record time of 4:56.03 in 2004.

He now owns more than half of the titles in the Quiksilveredition, in its 11th year. His competition, while happy to finish the grueling race, could only shake their heads at his sustained dominance.

"I trained the hardest I've ever trained, three, four months for this race. So it's real satisfying that the hard work paid off," a composed Mitchell said moments after dismounting at Maunalua Bay Beach Park in Hawaii Kai.

Bruce Taylor, Mitchell's Aussie comrade from Queensland, finished a distant second at 5:15.00. Last year, Mitchell won by a margin of more than 17 minutes, a record interval.

Not anymore. He won by 26 minutes, 37 seconds this year.

"He's a great paddler as it is, then he started doing this stuff," said Taylor, 27. "He's just too strong, you know? Just very, very strong. And mentally I just think he's extremely tough. I'm happy for him."

Brian Rocheleau, in third at 5:19.52, was the first Hawaii resident to finish of the 133 entrants. He had no idea how Mitchell had done, having lost sight of the two Aussies.

"No way. Wow. That's a pretty big margin," the firefighter said.

The steady blasts of AC/DC, Pearl Jam, Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers on his waterproof iPod helped Mitchell combat the choppy water and headwind the final 8 miles in.

First-time entrant Shakira Westdorp, yet another Queenslander, dethroned Hawaii resident and five-time champ Kanesa Duncan for the women's title in just under 6 hours (5:59.52). That was despite a broken rudder on her board that cost her a few minutes while her support team did an emergency, makeshift repair.

The 22-year-old took a northerly line, while Duncan approached Oahu from the south. When Westdorp reached the dreaded 4-hour mental and physical "wall," she found it wasn't as bad as some had made it out to be. Her team soon spotted Duncan, and it was "game on" the last hour and a half after that. Duncan, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii, finished 5 minutes back at 6:05.05.

"Everyone who's done it fully prepped me for it," said Westdorp, one of three women in the unlimited (up to 18-foot board) division. "I'll be back for sure, every year."

Most of the early finishers agreed that the conditions -- 4- to 6-foot swells, with plenty of "runner" waves for them to coast on -- were favorable. Race director Mike Takahashi considered the weather the third-best year of the race's history.

Mitchell, who distanced himself from Taylor after the first hour, and again for good on the final quarter of the race, knew it was a swift outing from start at the Kaluakoi Hotel on Molokai to finish at Hawaii Kai.

"I think, (the) conditions and my fitness level," the lifeguard attributed his success to. "If I was any shape I was the last five years, I probably wouldn't have broken the record."

Team Kalama (David and Ekolu Kalama) won the inaugural stand-up rudder division in 4:36.00, nearly an hour better than their time of 5:28.36 last year, when there was no distinction between standard or ruddered boards in the stand-up race. They "pioneered" the idea, Takahashi said.

Keoni Watson was the repeat winner in the stockboard (12-foot) category in 5:39.48.