Three years ago, a relatively young and unknown Cody Ranfranz surprised everyone when he claimed the overall victory at the 2014 Peaman Red, White and Blue Biathlon event.
At the time, Ranfranz was only 14 years of age when he earned the distinction of being the youngest victor in all 26 years of Peaman Biathlon history.
While crossing the finish line in first may have hurled his name straight into the record books, it also marked the beginning of an inevitable bright future in the sport of running and swimming.
Since then a lot has changed. The now 17-year-old Konawaena High School graduate has become a household name amongst the local running and biathlon community, amassing nearly twenty biathlon victories and countless first place finishes at the 5K and 10K running distances.
The icing on the cake however, came during his senior year running high school cross-country. After years of hard work and dedication to the sport, Ranfranz won the coveted 2016 boys individual BIIF championship crown, ending the Wildcat’s ten-year drought since Patrick Stover claimed the title in 2006.
Not only did Ranfranz shine on any racecourse, he also excelled in the classroom and graduated with academic honors, Cum Laude, and with 20 college credits.
Looking back at what he has accomplished over the last three years is simply amazing. I call it the Ranfranz Era.
And now, Ranfranz is off to Montana State University, going from being a Wildcat to a Bobcat to run cross-country and track, while majoring in civil engineering.
“I’ve had a pretty good three years,” said a smiling Ranfranz. “While there were a lot of ups and a lot of downs, I believe that I came out stronger than ever from it.”
Ranfranz shared some of his “ups” that highlighted his young running career were winning the BIIF Championship crown last year and also winning at states.
“Some downs would probably be my last track season,” he said. “It wasn’t up to par with what was expected of me. But I think that it was probably because the expectations and pressure (to win the BIIF crown in track) just got to me.”
Sunday marked what would be Ranfranz’s final appearance – a last chance to swim in the crystal clear waters of Kailua Bay, and run along the scenic route of Alii Drive before heading off to MSU. While Ranfranz smiled at everyone before heading into the waters of Kaiakeakua Beach, there seemed to be a tinge of sadness that lingered in his eyes.
“Today is about just taking in all of the sights and the people as I’m not going to have this in Montana,” he said. “It’s been quite the journey. My parents have been with me throughout everything so it will definitely be a change not having them physically right there for me. But right now I’m excited. Though when it actually sinks in then yeah, I might be a little nervous to be on my own.”
With Sunday’s Brown Bear Bash and Sunny Sprint Peaman Biathlon event officially canceled, a few showed up anyway, like Ranfranz, Peaman, and myself to do the 1/3-mile swim and 3.1-mile run unofficially.
“Today we celebrate Sunny Haspe and her husband Brown Bear,” said Sean “Peaman” Pagett. “Both were longtime friends at our little get together and play days on Sunday.
“Sunny’s name fit her perfectly – she was a sunny person, very happy, her eyes and her smile would always capture you. When she got brain cancer, it moved pretty quickly. She went from being a vibrant young lady to being in a wheelchair in a short amount of time. Brown Bear was the epitome of a wonderful husband and wonderful human being in how he cared for her till the end. The love he showed her always moved and touched my heart.”
Meanwhile, on the adjacent beach known as Kamakahonu, many gathered to celebrate the life and spread the ashes of longtime Peaman Biathlon participant, Dr. Frank Ferren.
“Today was just a day to enjoy the beauty of the ocean, play in the ocean, and play on the land doing some walking and running or whatever it is,” Peaman said. “Like Sunny, Frank also died of brain cancer so today is just a day to celebrate their lives, enjoy the beauty of the world, share the love and aloha as one big ohana, and exercise.”
Sunday morning certainly turned out to be a fun game of “dip and dash.”
With the teen speedster not swimming for the last few months along with having tired legs from his recent wins starting with Kaloko’s Run Till Ya Ralph 6.5-mile race three weeks ago, Mana 10K, and Saturday’s Rainforest Runs 10K, Ranfranz and I were dead even at the end of the 1/3-mile swim.
While Ranfranz had the advantage getting out of the water to hit the swim-to-run transition in first, not using his triathlon racing shoes since April’s Lavaman Waikoloa race left him fumbling around, which placed me back in first heading out for the 3.1-mile run.
But just a ½-mile into the run, the all too familiar sound of Ranfranz’s quick footsteps closing in made me realize that my initial celebration of taking the lead from him was short lived. He passed gracefully and continued to extend his lead all the way to the famed telephone pole finish line with an unofficial time of 27 minutes and 27 seconds.
I followed a minute back in 28:22 and truly felt honored to have gotten to know such a rare and humble talent. I wish Ranfranz all the best in his future endeavors as he will certainly be missed.
While he set the bar high in the world of running, cross-country, and biathlon events, Ranfranz didn’t plan on leaving without giving some lasting advice to younger generations who are already following in his footsteps.
“Keep working at it because when I first started running and swimming I was not that good at it. I never thought I’d be where I’m at now. So it’s all about just keep working at it and when you’ve gotten to the point where the most you can give is your best, then that’s when you know you can be happy.”
Off Island Race Buzz
Two Big Islanders made their way to Colorado to take part in the TransRockies RUN6 – an epic trail race held over six days (Aug. 15- 20), 120 miles, with 20,000 feet in elevation gained – that took endurance trail runners from Buena Vista to Beaver Creek.
Kailua-Kona’s Grant Miller represented well as he made it to the podium during Stages 2-6, which placed him third overall in the men’s 50-plus category for the Run 6 series with a combined finishing time of 23 hours, 32 minutes and 20 seconds.
New York’s Blaise Brochard won the overall men’s 50-plus title in a time of 19:43:43, while California’s Vicky Oswald claimed the women’s division in 25:41:27.
“Some nice folks from Ohio that I met yesterday were chasing me all day,” Miller said in an email. “They caught me right at the top of the last climb at 5100 feet today. Luckily there was about a mile of down hill to the finish. I flowed down the hill with what little I had left and held them off. Why do we always do that? Try and catch the person in front of you or hold off the person behind? Something in the human spirit or just trying to do the best you can? Anyways what an awesome experience and surprising what the human body can do! Helps to have 300 others sharing the fun/pain and showing you what’s possible.”
Miller’s wife, Janet Higa-Miller also participated in the TransRockies RUN3 as a recreational runner, running three days, 58 trail miles, and 8600 feet of climbing.
“Trail running is such a blast!” Higa-Miller said. “We are having the best time off road on foot these days. We still love to mountain bike but trail running has expanded our off road horizons and we are loving it.”