Runnin’ with Rani: History rewritten at Peaman Biathlon and Team Mango Sprint Tri

Within the past few weeks, two records were broken at two long-time Big Island multisport events.

While most records are typically pinned to an individual’s incredibly fast finishing times, these high achievements were accomplished based upon the winner’s age.

Thirteen-year-old Duke Becker and 14-year-old Kaiden Lieto recently won the overall titles that etched their names into the history books – becoming the youngest victors in the three-decade long history of Peaman Biathlons and Team Mango Races.

13-year old Duke Becker wins Peaman Biathlon

At just 13 years of age, Duke Becker is like most teenage boys.

He loves to listen to music, enjoys hanging out with his friends, and often finds himself drawn to adventures that take him to remote waterfalls, secret beaches, surfing and body boarding, and photography of the Big Island’s vast beauty he proudly calls home.

But how Becker may differ from his peers is his level of determination, focus and passion to excel at the one sport he enjoys most — swimming.

Last year, the 8th grader at Innovations Public Charter School turned heads when he racked up five gold medals and broke two age group state records during the Summer Hawaii Age Group Long Course Championships in Kihei, Maui.

The then 12-year-old Kailua-Kona resident won the boy’s 11-12 year old age group 400-meter IM (5 minutes and 11.65 seconds), 200 breaststroke (2:44.21), 50 breaststroke (34.04), 100 breaststroke (1:15.41) and the 200 IM (2:27.80).

He then continued his consistency in the pool during December’s Hawaii Age Group Short Course Championships with strong second place finishes in the boys 13-14 year old age group 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke, 200 backstroke, and 400 IM.

And at Sunday’s Zoomin’ Zak Plunge & Plod Biathlon, Becker proved that not only can he cut through water with the best of them, but that he has the running speed and stamina with the likes of some of the best cross-country runners on the island.

By crossing the finish line in first, Becker broke Cody Ranfranz’s age record set in 2014, and became the youngest victor in all 30 years of Peaman Biathlon history at the age of 13. Ranfranz was 14 when he set the previous mark.

“Wow, I’m very surprised,” Becker said. “I didn’t know that going into today’s race. I think it’s pretty cool to take a record from Cody Ranfranz. It feels good. And I feel proud of myself because I haven’t done an entire Peaman event in awhile.”

Sunday’s Zoomin’ Zak Plunge and Plod Biathlon featured a ½-mile swim in a somewhat murky Kailua Bay followed by a steamy 3.9-mile run on Alii Drive.

During the half-mile swim, Becker found himself in a front pack that included Ryan Cohen and last month’s female biathlon winner, Brenda Avery. The trio used each other to push the pace and opened a wide gap from the rest of the field.

Although Cohen was first out of the water with a swim split of 13:32, the speedy legs of Becker had him running up the pier cement stairs ahead of Cohen, and out onto the 3.9-mile run course as the individual leader.

Becker said that he typically would’ve ended his race right after the swim, but a fun challenge the day before by his dad, Danny, had him lacing up old running shoes that were a size too small before sprinting down Alii Drive.

“It was my dad who was bugging me to come out today,” laughed Becker. “He always tells me that he’s one step ahead of me because he does both, the swim and run. So to prove to him that I could also run fast, I decided to do both as well.”

However, not having any run training under his belt, nor being accustomed to the feeling of oxygen deprivation when transitioning from hard swimming to fast running had Becker questioning his decision to challenge his dad.

“I started off feeling really bad on the first mile,” he said. “I felt like I was 10 pounds heavier. Then after that I started getting into it and I felt that I was loosening up. But then I saw Levi (Childers), Archer (Ankrum) and his dad (Adam Ankrum) — all really good runners chasing — so I knew they would be catching up to me. I just tried my best to hold them off.”

That he did. And with his trademark dazzling smile that could be seen from a mile away, Becker hurled his name into the record books by becoming the youngest athlete to win a Peaman Biathlon event with his time of 44:00.

Impressively, the next four spots all finished within a minute from Becker’s finishing time. Archer Ankrum was next to clock in at 44:22, and was closely followed by Childers (44:29), Adam Ankrum (44:31) and Peter Buehlow (44:59).

Glee Jewell was the first female to finish in a great time of 49:35, and was followed by Lori Montgomery and Zina Mercil with their times of 54:44 and 56:59 respectively.

The Pea Wee division of a 200-yard swim and 1-mile run went to Kyle Randerson (12:37) and Layla Gagnon (15:26).

With his first Peaman Biathlon win under his belt, Becker says that he will continue swimming twice per day for a total of 15-17 hours per week, and plans to do more Peaman events in the future.

“I think it’s fun and I’ll probably need to get bigger running shoes.”

14-year old Kaiden Lieto wins Team Mango Sprint Tri

Last year, it was almost mind-boggling when 15-year-old Josiah Randerson became the youngest athlete to win the Team Mango Sprint Triathlon in its 25-year race history. More impressively, he was the youngest ever to win the overall title at a Team Mango event, period.

But two weeks ago, that record was just beaten by none other than 14-year-old Kaiden Lieto.

If that name has a familiar ring to it well, it might be because his father is Chris Lieto, a local professional triathlete and surfer who is a three-time Ironman Champion and well known for his killer strength on the bike.

The Team Mango Sprint Triathlon features a ¼-mile swim, 14-mile bike, and 2- mile run that has been a popular choice among athletes looking for a last minute tune up before the Lavaman Waikoloa Olympic Distance Triathlon, or possibly bragging rights, as one glance at the winner’s list includes some of the best triathletes of our time.

Olympians Tim Don and Matty Reed top the list as both have completed the event in less than an hour. Don currently owns the course record with his time of 53:42 set in 2015.

And many remember the epic sprint finish in 2011 between Reed and Chris Lieto. The duo raced side-by-side, with Reed winning by a hair — more accurately, four tenths of a second — finishing in 54:05.1 and 54:05.5 respectively.

But on Feb. 25, it was the young Lieto’s turn to shine and make history of his own.

Lieto’s connection to the world of triathlon happened from the day he was born. His father graced the cover of numerous triathlon magazines throughout his professional career and often brought his young son to the many races he competed in — and won — year round.

“I lived in San Francisco until I was 7 years old, then I moved to Kona when I was 10,” Lieto recalled. “When my dad was racing, triathlon was definitely something I wanted to do. I remember after his races, I would get one of his race numbers and put it on his race belt, and go around my neighborhood pretending I was in a race — swimming, biking and running. And every race that I would go to, he would always get an extra (triathlon) kit that I would also wear on race day. And that’s how I would support him.”

Once moving to Kona and living just minutes away from the best surf spots in town like Lymans, Banyans and Honl’s, Lieto found himself grabbing his surfboard rather than his helmet and bike shoes. And after a few years of tearing it up along the Kona Coastline, the former University of Nations student decided to homeschool to focus on improving his surf skills.

“It’s pretty nice because I can get all of my work done for the whole week in one day if I wanted to,” he said. “So if I just sit down and hammer it out then it would probably take me 5-6 hours to get it done. So if there’s waves, or a contest, or a triathlon happening, then I can get all my work done in one day so I can train or surf the rest of the week.”

And while Lieto felt quite certain that his focus would be surfing, a renewed zest for triathlon stirred from deep within after watching last year’s Ironman World Championships with family and friends.

“My main passion was surfing going into homeschool until I saw last year’s Ironman,” Lieto said. “It kind of got my attention again and got me back to doing triathlons. I don’t know really what it was. I think maybe it’s pushing your body to the limit and seeing how far your body can take you.”

Or maybe, triathlon is just part of Lieto’s DNA. If anyone would know how it feels to push themselves beyond their limit in the multisport world, it would be his dad.

“My dad has never put any pressure on me,” Lieto said. “I would feel just as comfortable even if my dad wasn’t a professional triathlete. I just like going out there and having a lot of fun.”

And that was evident when Lieto put together a fast swim (5:18), bike (42:53) and run (15:15) to not only win in a blazing time of 1:03:26, but also earn the remarkable distinction of becoming the youngest Team Mango Triathlon champion.

“I was pretty excited, it was definitely a big accomplishment,” the 14-year old said of winning his first triathlon. “I was also pretty bummed that one of my good friends, Josiah, had gotten hit. I was excited (before the race) to battle it out with him because one of my main goals was to compete against him. I knew that if I had a really good race, I could get close to being near him at the end.”

Just six seconds back and in second place was his uncle, Matt Lieto, who finished in 1:03:32, with Tobias Olney in third at 1:07:30.

Zina Merel, who competed in her first triathlon ever, won the women’s division in 1:20:18. The always consistent Lori Montgomery took second place at 1:23:06, and Ceri Whitfield in third at 1:30:02.

With the luxury of being at such a young age and an inevitable bright future ahead with eager sponsors like Trek, On Running and Roka already secured on the front of his trisuit, there’s no telling where you’ll see Lieto tearing it up — on the waves, on Queen Kaahumanu Highway, or both.

“I think both can combine really well. Swimming, biking and running can really help with surfing; or paddling while surfing can really help with my swimming. The bike really helps strengthen my legs as it helps with power surfing, and putting a lot of strength in my turns. And running helps with my overall stamina. But I like both because it’s fun.”

Coming Up

Saturday: Kona Brewers Festival presents the 11th Annual Run For Hops 10K & 5K races at BMW Hawaii on Loloku Street. Start time for both races is 7:30 a.m. and is organized by People Advocacy For Trails Hawaii (PATH). In person registration and packet pickup happening today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Bike Works Kona, and at BMW Hawaii on Saturday from 6-7 a.m. For registration details and entry forms visit www.pathhawaii.org.

Sunday: Kiser Motorcycles and the Hawaii Cycling Club team up to present, The Dragon. Start time for the 4th annual cycling hill climb event is 7 a.m. with race day check-in beginning at 6:30 a.m. at the scenic overlook park below Keauhou Shopping Center and next to the intersection of Kam III and Alii Drive. Registration is closed but for more information or to volunteer visit www.hawaiicyclingclub@gmail.com.