Every few years a recognizable name in the sport of triathlon decides to make an appearance at a local Peaman Biathlon event.
Many may remember when Peter Reid and Paula Newby-Fraser – both multiple Hawaii IRONMAN World Champions – came out for the fun dip and dash. Other sports heroes who have shown up to race over the years include three-time IRONMAN Champion and uber cyclist, Chris Lieto, Heather Fuhr, and Olympians Matty Reed and Joanna Zeiger.
On Sunday, the star-struck look on everyone’s face was for Australia’s Pete Jacobs.
Jacobs, who is the 2012 Hawaii IRONMAN World Champion, decided to give it a go at Peaman’s Brown Bear Bash and Sunny Sprint – a quarter-mile swim in Kailua Bay followed by a 3.1-mile sprint on Alii Drive.
While some participants did their best to look unfazed as Jacobs donned his swim cap and goggles, many could not help themselves from feeling completely awestruck as they watched a world champion get ready for his first Peaman Biathlon event.
“I’m feeling a bit nervous,” Chris Chang said before the start of the race while glancing toward Jacobs. “That’s him over there. Pretty cool.”
Seeing Jacobs at the Peaman swim start immediately brought back fond memories for Chang. In 2012, Chang was 19-years old when he won a slot through Hawaii’s IRONMAN drawing to compete in October’s IRONMAN World Championships held in Kona.
“2012 was the year that I raced here and did my first IRONMAN,” Chang said. “It was also the year Pete Jacobs won. So it’s great to see him out here. He represents the top of the sport and that’s where everyone wants to be so he’s definitely someone I look up to.”
Chang recalled that he was still in the bike-to-run transition on that day when he heard the announcer call out, “Here is your 2012 World Champion – Pete Jacobs.” The Australian native had just crossed the finish line and was being crowned champion when Chang was about to begin the grueling 26.2-mile marathon. The moment was surreal.
As Chang treaded water next to Jacobs on Sunday while waiting for the mass start of the swim in Kailua Bay – it was almost like a mini version of 2012 all over again.
A fury of arms thrashing and splashing came out of nowhere as nearly 100 competitors raced toward the white fifth that marked the swim turn.
Within a few minutes, it was no surprise to see Jacobs exit the water in first and casually make his way up the cement stairs.
“I took a little longer in transition to put my socks on,” Jacobs said with a smile. “It was a good mindset to be out on Alii Drive trying to push hard while worrying if David (Wild) was going to catch me. So the race was mentally good for me.”
As Wild chased in hot pursuit, the race for third included a pack made up of Chang, Michael DeCarli, Anita Leao, and myself.
In the end, Jacobs easily cruised his way to a new course record time of 22 minutes and 51 seconds. Wild worked hard to keep it close and placed second with his time of 23:31, and the race for third had DeCarli sprinting past me on the final straightaway to finish with a time of 26:12.
I finished fourth overall and first for the women in 26:20, with Anita Leao and Jacobs’ wife, Jaimielle, rounding out the women’s podium with their times of 29:06 and 29:26 respectively.
“It was awesome!” Jacobs said of the event. “A great community race, everyone’s really enthusiastic about how good it is for the community, everyone loves getting involved, it’s a free event and a lot of fun, it’s over really quick, and you get to practice your transitions.”
Jacobs, who has participated in October’s IRONMAN World Championship triathlon race for the last eight years and a career highlighted by his big win in 2012, said that coming to Kona in August was his first ever “IRONMAN-focused” training session as he typically arrives just eight or nine days out from the “big dance.”
“This is something really different for me this year,” the 34-year old said. “Things have been going better than they have in the last few years so I wanted to make sure that I ticked all the boxes in preparation for the race in October.
“To train here has been beautiful. I’ve had different wind conditions on the bike as I’ve ridden up to Hawi three times – nothing too brutal so it’s been good. But this trip has been the most enjoyable because it’s a little bit of a holiday and you don’t have all of the craziness of IRONMAN week. My wife Jamie also came and she is training for 70.3 Worlds as an age group competitor in two weeks time. So it’s been fun and we’ve been able to go out on a few date nights and swim with turtles.”
Jacobs shared that up until recently, he had struggled with extreme fatigue over the last few years that was affecting his performance – prompting him to embrace a complete diet change at the beginning of the year.
“My diet is fairly strict now,” he said. “It’s been the key to improving my health over the last several months. I don’t eat wheat, grains, dairy, or meat. Just fish, eggs and fresh vegetables. If it’s processed at all, I don’t touch it.”
While having a stricter diet may mean more time spent preparing meals at home, Jacobs says that it’s totally worth it.
“I’m finally feeling good for this year for the first time in a long time,” he said. “When I feel good eating pure, unprocessed foods that hasn’t got any of those other things in it that can cause inflammation for me, I don’t feel like I’m missing out by preparing most of my meals at home and not eating out as much. My goal, focus, and what makes me happy is doing well in races. So not eating out as much is not a problem for me, I’m happy to give that up to have better health.”
In the Split Peas relay division, Aiden (swim) and Alec (run) Ankrum dominated with their combined time of 27:03. Kealakekua’s Tori Oshiro ripped through the quarter-mile swim in 4:54, while Olivia Robinson won the 3.1-mile run in 23:53.
Brandon “Wild Man” Curry won the short course Pea Wee race of a 200-yard swim and 1-mile run with his time of 13:00. A distant second was Tina Selmar in 17:08, followed by Haku Ackerman-Hose in third at 20:15.
The Pea Wee Split Peas relay title went to Ben Bergin (swim) and Mandy Minor (run) in 22:39, with Nicholas White winning the 1-mile sprint in 8:02.
With the Hawaii IRONMAN World Championships just six weeks away, Jacobs says that he is feeling good and ready.
“This has been a really good training camp, things are going in the right direction, and I really look forward to coming back in October. And with everything being a little more familiar now that I have done this training camp, I have better feelings and better vibes here on the island than I’ve had in my last few years here.”