Polar Bear's Pinto Bean and Pinata Biathlon 2011

A few days after Cinco de Mayo, we did our celebrating at Polar Bear's Pinto Bean and Pinata Biathlon yesterday morning. Of course this race also honored another special group - moms! Happy Mother's Day and congratulations to all the moms who came out to participate in an active Mother's Day event!

The race started off with a 3/4 mile swim. That bright orange buoy was very visible, but also looked very far away. I think most people were a little anxious about this longer swim distance (I know I definitely was). But the nice thing about the longer swim is that everyone spreads out pretty quick, so you're not swimming on top of each other the whole time. I managed to find a couple of feet to swim with and was pretty happy with my swim time (under 28 minutes).

Then it was on to the 3.1 mile run. Pretty standard stuff - everyone out enjoying a nice run on a beautiful Sunday in Kona. Actually, people may have been appreciating it a little more yesterday, since we've had a ton of rain in the last couple of weeks, so a dry, clear morning was something to enjoy. My run came in under 24 minutes, for a total time of 52:29 (about 20 seconds faster than the last time I tried this distance).

Here are some pictures of the moms:

Lee-Ann Heely

Christine DeCarli

A mom pacing her son

Time for dads, too - Peaman and Papa Pea

Kym Kiser and her daughter

Lisa Bryant

A mom pushes her son in the jogger

More photos are available here (not all the photos were of moms!). Special thanks to Nori Becker for taking photos after her swim today. Unfortunately, the camera battery died before the end, so we didn't get everyone!

Full results from the races are available here. In the main distance, Chris Lieto took first in a time of 36:49, followed by Kirk Mitchell in 42:13 and Dale Fediuk in 43:19. Anita Leao was the fourth finisher and first woman in 43:51. Lori Montgomery was second female in 49:36 and Serena Chamberlain was third in 51:06.

For the peawees, it was a close race between Kaiden Leito, Duke Becker and Kanaipono Eckart. Kaiden came in first at 13:54, with Duke and Kanaipono taking second in third in 14:00 each. Must have been a photo finish!

Following the race, the Westfalls passed the Perpetual Pea on to one of the newest, yet most energizing Peaman participants, the Lieto family! Congrats to them! It's great to see a pro triathlete and his family coming out to support the local community events.

Next weekend is the Visitor Industry Charity Walk on Saturday at the Mauna Lani and the Scholarship Run 5K in Hilo on Sunday as we inch closer to Honu and the Kona Marathon!