PATH 5k/10k Run

This is the big week that the triathlon world converges on Kona. The exciting week of events was kicked off on Sunday morning with the PATH (People's Advocacy for Trails Hawaii) 5k/10k Run/Walk. This was the 25th year of the event! A lot of the Ironmen and women and their families came out to participate, so the finisher list was very international. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera this day, so we don't have any pictures of the race. But it was held on Alii Drive, starting at Hale Halawai, so you can imagine lots of sun, ocean and Hawaiian foliage.

Over 100 people were entered in each of the 5k and 10k. The 10k course went south from Hale Halawai to about Magic Sands Beach. For the 10k, Chris Legh of Colorado came in first with a time of 33:37. Kjell Schioberg of Idaho was second in 36:20. The first woman finished in third place overall and was former Ironman champion Heather Fuhr with a time of 37:16. In fourth place was Donovan Watts from Canada (37:39), followed by the first Big Island finisher, Alan Ryan, in a time of 37:43. Second and third place for the ladies were Irene Kinnegim from the Netherlands (42:39) and Cynthia Kidwell from Indiana (44:23). The first Big Island finisher for the ladies was Heather Scarbrough who finished in 45:05. Full results from the race are here.

The 5k course ran the same route as the 10k, but turned around at Casa D'Emdeko instead, making for a fairly hilly 5k course. Finishing first overall was Joshua Sonnet of Belgium in a time of 18:30. He was followed by two local runners - Nathan Grocholski (19:10) and Ziggy Bartholomy (19:28). First place for the women was Catherine Lee of Minnesota in 19:44, followed by Chrystel Christenson of Utah in 21:06. I was able to represent for Kona and finished in third place in 21:21. Full race results for the 5k are available here.

Several of our running group members and customers won age group awards in both the 5k and 10k, including Monica Price, Lisa Bryant, Ellis Andrews, Cliff Acheson, Korey Pulluaim, Scott Wiitala, Rob Van Geen, Marissa Bryant-Manago, and Jon Kunitake. The awards provided by PATH were great Hawaiian umeki bowls, used by Hawaiians for eating poi and other local food.

The event was also accompanied by a silent auction which included jewelry, massages, an entry to Lavaman Waikoloa, and other gift certificates, all to raise money for PATH. PATH is a great local organization that tries to make the roads and community safe for bikers, runners and pedestrians. If you haven't checked them out, go to pathhawaii.org and see all the great things they do!

Today is the Ironman parade and the start of the expo, so we'll try to get some more updates posted throughout the week.