The story of Jackson Thoma may not be long, but will surely be remembered for years to come.
And it’s not a tale of a young athlete, who after numerous attempts at the short course LavaKids PeaWee event, finally achieved a dream come true by winning his first ever biathlon race.
It is however, about a 7-year-old boy, who loves to spend his idle time playing with friends, surfing along the Kona Coastline and running on the track team for Konawaena Elementary School, discovering that he has a niche in the short 200-yard swim and 1-mile run. And after participating in only two LavaKids PeaWee events, finding himself hurled straight into the record books.
His father, Brad Thoma, said it all began from a friendly chat with a coworker.
“A friend and teacher I work with at Konawaena, Kelly McCloskey, said that we should come out, it would be great for him, and because of his swimming background, he would do well,” said the elder Thoma, who has taught English at Konawaena High School for 21 years. “She has been coming out to these Peamans with her kids and thought it would be fun for us too.”
Well, McCloskey was right.
At Sunday’s LavaKids PeaWee Biathlon, that also included a longer course called the Road Runner Biathlon, Jackson Thoma won in convincing fashion — leading wire-to-wire to claim his first overall victory in a time of 13 minutes and 2 seconds.
Jackson’s impressive victory also tied the 2016 age record set by Sophia Oka-Fedder. At seven years of age, both now share the distinction of being the youngest champions in LavaKids PeaWee Biathlon history.
Thoma said that his son has been swimming for the last three years and recently began running track this past winter. His first introduction to the monthly biathlon event was at last month’s Zoomin’ Zak Plunge &Plod Biathlon where Jackson placed an impressive 6th overall.
“He runs for the fun and swims to be a better surfer,” Thoma said. “I had to talk him into coming this morning instead of going surfing. So yes, he’s hooked.”
And like Oka-Fedder, the beauty of being so young and innocent to the sport is that when it comes to competition, winning, breaking records, or to possibly make history on the famous PeaWee course – none of that mattered to a 7-year-old just wanting to have a good time.
This happened to be why Jackson, who said his favorite subject in school is science and also has interest in doing triathlons in the future because “it looks fun,” seemed a bit confused when the interviewer wanted to chat with him and his father.
“No, I did not know,” a distracted Jackson said after he was told he won the LavaKids PeaWee Biathlon while eyeing the toy he planned to grab during the post-race raffle. “Um yeah, I’m really excited (to win).”
Prior to standing beachside along the seawall of Kaiakeakua Beach designated as the starting point for all PeaWee competitors, Jackson admitted to feeling some butterflies in his stomach.
“I felt excited and a little nervous,” said the Konawaena Elementary School second grader. “I don’t why, I guess I just had the feeling that I was a little nervous before the start. But I surf and I’m on the swim team so, no not really, (the choppiness conditions of the water) didn’t affect me.”
Jackson was the first to hit the PeaWee turnaround buoy located a 100 yards out and head back to shore. Like a veteran biathlete, he sighted repeatedly between strokes until his feet touched sand. After a quick transition, Jackson charged onto the 1-mile run course on Alii Drive with his father cheering him on from behind, and never looked back.
Once crossing the finish line, Jackson said that he felt exhausted but well worth the effort.
“I like to swim and run so it was a lot of fun.”
Next to cross the finish line was Vasco Freitas in 13:34 and Owen Pires in 13:41. Brandon “Wild Man” Curry outsprinted both Kaden Bruce and Kayah Lieto during the final stretch of the 1-mile PeaWee run course to win in a blazing time of 7:03. Bruce and Lieto followed in second and third with their times of 7:10 and 7:18 respectively.
In the long course Road Runner Biathlon featuring a ¾-mile swim and 3.5-mile run, Brenda Avery once again crushed her competition to win her fourth overall title in a swift time of 44:08.
Trying to keep it close was Levi Childers, who finished in second place and first for the men, with his time of 47:04. Erik Nelson was next in 48:06, with Michael DeCarli in fourth at 48:26, and rounding out the top five was Archer Ankrum in a great time of 49:55.
It was no surprise to see the Ankrum brothers, Aiden (swim) and Alec (run), dominating the Split Peas relay division with their combined time of 39:47. Peaman and John Howerton teamed up to take second with their time of 41:52, with Archer and Laura Ankrum following in third at 49:56.
Leonard Torricer took top honors in the 3.5-mile run division to finish in a time of 26:35, while Karis Lieto outsprinted her husband, Chris Lieto, just before the finish line. The Lieto’s finished in 31:56 and 32:00 respectively.
After the race, Peaman felt that it turned out to be a great day all around.
“It was a fun day, lots of good people, and probably the most kids we’ve ever had. It is also the longest event of the year. So we do find that people tend to shy away from the longer course and more people, especially more kids, doing the short course. But that’s what makes it so uplifting is to see all of these kids coming out. And among us Konawaena people and alumni, having Jackson Thoma win just made the day even more special.”