KAILUA-KONA — Spanning six miles along Kona’s popular coastline — from the pristine waters of Keauhou bay to the protected shores of Kamakahonu Beach — boasts the Big Island’s longest running open-water swim event, the Alii Challenge.
Sunday’s 37th annual Alii Challenge welcomed participants with beautiful blue skies, ideal ocean conditions, and even sightings of spotted eagle rays and manta rays passing by. The Alii Challenge is the island’s most iconic swim race, and one of the few events that continued through the pandemic years without a pause, which is why many continue to list the swim challenge as a “must-do” on their bucket lists.
The Alii Challenge is typically held on the second Sunday in August when swimming conditions tend to be ideal, but for the first time in the event’s history, it was postponed for one month.
“Traditionally, it’s held on the second Sunday in August, but this year and a week before the scheduled swim, there were heightened tiger shark activity,” said race director, Jennifer Stabrylla. “I received notice from a lot of different people about it and honestly, I lived here for 30 years and it was the first time that I felt trepidation about being in the ocean. I decided to seriously pay attention to that and act upon it. I didn’t want to put a number of people in the water if I myself was not comfortable getting into the water.”
Stabrylla, 63, who is employed as a massage therapist specializing in traditional lomi-lomi, said this was her 6th year at the helm as race director and has competed in three Alii Challenges herself.
“At the start of today’s race, it was so calm and beautiful,” Stabrylla said looking out at Kailua Bay. “Now two and half hours later, the winds have picked up but it’s still really nice water conditions for swimming. No whitecaps yet, the winds are gentle. I did get notice this morning as I was heading down to the pier that we had a south swell, so it might be a little more challenging for swimmers today.
Stabrylla explained that having a south swell or south current meant “more butting of heads” as swimmers head north to finish at Kamakahonu Beach and predicted longer race times.
However, for first-time participant, Oahu’s Ryan Leong, Sunday’ ocean conditions turned out to be ideal and along with the one-month postponement of the race, everything worked out to his favor.
“I am a long-time open water swimmer involved with the Waikiki Rough Water Swim, Alamoana Beach Swim Club, and many other things, and I always wanted to do this race,” Leong said. “It’s always such a low-key, kind of underground event that quickly sneaks up on you, passes you by, and next thing you know it’s something you plan again to do next year. It just so happens that it got delayed this year, and I was out here for work and (the swim) would happen on the day after my work, so I thought, why not?”
Turns out, Leong was the first to reach the white sands of Kamakahonu Beach in a stellar time of 2 hours, 34 minutes and 52 seconds.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said the 51-year old. “I was just looking for a nice open water swim. There are certain parts of this course that I’ve swam before, like the Ironman course, but not so much by Keauhou, so I was really interested to see the water there.
“It was just fantastic, beautiful blue, buttery smooth early on, and then it got a little swirly from the half-way point to the finish, but all-in-all, it was a gorgeous swim. I saw some eels, and schools of opelu. But I really loved the blue water with the sun shining through with all different colors of grey — it kind of looked like the northern lights so that was really cool. That was a lot of fun for me.”
Not too far behind was the top female, 36-year old architect Ihilani Phillips, who finished in an amazing time of 2 hours, 42 minutes and 16 seconds.
“The ocean in Kona is one of my favorite places to be and this race just happens to be a lesser-known event,” said Phillips, who was a distance swimmer in college and owns bragging rights as the 2006 USA Swimming National Champion in the women’s mile.
“I figured that if people knew just how beautiful this swim is then it would be that much more highly attended, but one of the cool things is that it is very underground. Just the idea of being able to swim in this beautiful water with such peace of mind, with so much support with an escort — I even saw eagle rays and a giant manta ray, and I could see the bottom for most of the way with some of the most beautiful blue water — to just get the chance to see all of that was my motivation. The water felt pretty flat and calm as I didn’t really notice the ocean swell, it was really nice. Today was just ideal conditions.”
Topping the relay division were two Hawaii County lifeguards, Kekaulike Kealoha and Kaulahoolai Pilago with their combined time of 2 hours, 43 minutes and 26 seconds.
Hilo lifeguard Kealoha said that Sunday’s race was the fifth time he completed the daunting six-mile challenge. He completed three as an individual and two as a relay.
“I like doing relays because we give each other tips on what is going well and what needs some improvement during the race, Kealoha said. “Every time we switch off is an opportunity to tell each other if we are pulling too much to the left or right, or if I need my relay partner to be three feet from me on the left side so I can see him because on my right, he would be in the glare of the sun.”
Sunday’s win also capped off a fantastic swim season as Kealoha also recently competed in the 2023 Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim on August 26th — a 1.5-mile swim that begins in frigid water temperatures of San Francisco Bay on the eastside of Alcatraz Island, and finishes at the Aquatic Park.
“Oh man it was so creepy — it’s not what I expected!” Kealoha said. “The water was a cold 64 degrees, the smell of the water was like dead fish, and then they drop you off and you think, wait a minute, I thought you were going to drop me off a little closer! The winds were blowing and pushing me out of position, I had two seals pop up right next to me, and there was a total of 800 people in the race.
“I wanted to see where I was at my swimming level after putting in a lot of work to improve. I was happy with my results. I was doing the right amount of training, I really prepared for this and it all worked out. My support was there from my family, friends, co-workers, just everybody. Everything worked out, it was really good. I’m so glad I spent the money, the time — there was no loss in doing it.”
As for the Alii Challenge, Stabrylla plans to continue the annual tradition.
“I’ve been in Hawaii for thirty years and I’m in awe of so many traditions — the 70 something years of the Molokai Hoe Canoe Race, the 50 years of the Queen Liliuokalani, and over 50-years of the Waikiki Rough Water swim. I’m just so happy to be a part of another one of those kinds of traditions.”
