For most, Thanksgiving is usually the time for a family reunion, but for a select group of ultra-endurance athletes, that get-together with ohana takes place a day later.
A tight-knit field of nearly 40 athletes will gather at Kailua Pier for the start of the Ultraman World Championships Friday morning.
“It is always like a big family reunion,” said Ultraman Race Director Jane Bockus.
The invite-only, three-day event, described as an “athletic odyssey of personal rediscovery,” covers 320 miles of Big Island terrain.
The trek includes a 6.2-mile swim, 261.4-mile bike and 52.4-mile run. It all wraps up Sunday afternoon at Old Kona Airport Park.
This year, the race is celebrating its 30th anniversary, having being raced all but two years — 1987 and 1991 — since its inception in 1983.
“It’s obviously a real challenge for the athletes,” said Bockus. “Once they have done the iron-distance events, this is it.”
Since the race uses a large chunk of the island as a course, when the June 27 lava flow began to encroach on Pahoa, race officials began looking for an alternate route.
However, after patiently waiting it out and doing a drive through of the course, race officials announced that the route would remain the same.
“Normally our race T-shirt has the course on the back, but right up until last week we didn’t know what our course would be so we left it off,” said Bockus. “A big triangle of the course would have been eliminated, but thankfully, the normal course ended up working out.”
Because of the scale of the event, simply finishing is a monumental accomplishment, which is why the race does not celebrate top finishers.
“It is more of an individual event,” said Bockus. “We don’t feature who wins. The main thing is to finish it. Everyone who finishes gets a koa trophy. It does not say first or second, just the finishing time.”
The event has attracted participants from all over the world, but Bockus said she was excited about the local flair the event has drawn this year with five Big Island athletes taking on the course.
THE COURSE
– Stage I, Friday
6.2-mile ocean swim from Kailua Bay to Keauhou Bay, followed by a 90-mile cross-country bike ride from Keauhou Bay around the southern tip of the island via Route 11 to finish at Maunaleo Place in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Vertical climbs total 7,600 ft.
– Stage II, Saturday
171.4-mile bike ride, from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to Keaau, then turning east with a counter-clockwise loop through Kalapana, Kapoho and Pahoa, then on through Hilo.
From Hilo, the route continues and climbs north along the Hamakua Coast to Waimea, and over the Kohala Mountains to finish at Kamehameha Park in Kapaau, just north of Hawi town.
Vertical climbs total 8,600 ft.
– Stage III, Sunday
52.4-mile double-marathon run from Hawi to Kawaihae, then on to Kailua-Kona, finishing at the Old Kona Airport Park.
Time Limits: Each stage must be completed in 12 hours or less. The swim should be completed in 5 1/2 hours or less. Athletes not reaching the respective finish lines within the 12 hour limits will be disqualified.
To follow the race, visit ultramanlive.com.