This past Sunday, kids, families, and friends gathered at Kailua Bay for Frozen Pea Productions’ Polar Bear’s Pinto Bean and Pinata Biathlon.
The sun shined brightly on this clear, beautiful morning, and the ocean glittered as it gently rocked the buoys side to side. A hundred smiling faces joined together to enjoy a fun swim and run.
At 8:13 a.m., participants gathered, and Sean “Peaman” Pagett gave instructions. While there are two set courses — a pea-wee course measuring 200 yards for the swim and a mile for the run, and a full course of a 3/4-mile swim and 3.1-mile run — racers are allowed to mix and match distances, race either of the two disciplines and form any kind of relay they desire.
“Three, two, one, go!” Peaman yelled, and the swimmers took off. A thrashing tantrum of arms and legs ensued, and athletes fought the current as they headed out to sea.
The giant mob seemed to still be finding its bearings and hadn’t quite yet settled down when pea-wee Silas Wiley appeared back on shore. Not wasting any time in transition dealing with shoes, socks or any of that silly business, Wiley immediately made the sharp right turn onto Alii Drive and sprinted off into the distance.
Duke Becker also had a great swim, and his sister, Makena, followed closely behind. She apparently didn’t get the memo about transition protocol, however. Left sock on, one pea-wee ran by. Right sock on, passed again.
“We’ve got to work on that transition, don’t we Makena?” I told her jokingly when she was done.
“Yeah,” she told me, with a wide grin.
When the race clock struck 5 minutes, the run-only pea-wees took off for a one-mile dash. Only seven minutes later, they came huffing back, with Max and Elle Musacchia in the lead.
Those pea-wees sure can run.
Soon after the keikis finished, the long-course swimmers were back in view. Gliding through the water in first was Leahi Camacho, who beat out top triathlete Chris Lieto. It’s a good thing the high school girls keep Lieto on his toes. It’s good preparation for next month at Rohto Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, when he goes up against some guy named Lance or something.
The run-only athletes took off for their 5Ks at the 20-minute mark. In the official results, these racers show up as having superhero relay partners, with each fictional character having “swum” for 20 minutes.
Athletes and crime fighters have a lot in common, so it makes sense that superheros should be the stand-ins for racers, as athletes and crime fighters have a lot in common. For one, athletes all need side-kicks to act as a support crew and make competing possible. Secondly, both groups spend an extraordinary amount of time dressed in spandex.
Sprinting through the finish line with the fastest full-course time of the day — and winning by a 3-minute margin — was the second half of a superstar relay. With a combined time of 37 minutes, three seconds, and a combined age of 29 years old, runner Ziggy Bartholomy and swimmer Leahi Camacho took home first prize.
Next to cross the line was run-only participant Mikey Brown, with a 5K time of 20:44. First overall for the full-course biathlon was Ian Pucona in 43:50, with second going to 13-year-old super-triathlete Chris Prater.
Anita Leao was fourth overall and first woman in the biathlon. Leao’s superiority in the swim proved great enough to hold off her friendly rival, Mike Masuda, who, a bit disappointedly, “just couldn’t run her down.”
As the morning drew to a close and the crowd dwindled, I had the opportunity to hear a preview of Peaman’s graduation speech, which he has the honor of presenting at Konawaena High School’s ceremony this Saturday.
“Do something you love, and you will never work a day in your life,” he told me. “I never have.”
And as I reflected on the day, I saw a perfect display of just that.
Two professional athletes — Bree Wee and Chris Lieto — are both living dreams they call their jobs. And taking a leap from the literal meaning, I saw every single participant that morning and realized that in a world full of people forcing themselves to work out, Peaman racers line up for fun. There should be no work in a workout; exercise is about having fun and doing something you love.
And on a Sunday morning, once a month, the Kona community comes together to do just that.
No work allowed.
