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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Labor Day vacation was removed from stress-free for a whole bunch of swimmers on O’ahu’s south shore.
They fought by means of kicks and the present throughout the annual Waikiki RoughWater Swim on Monday.
It was a sea of swimming caps as 817 rivals began the race at Kaimana Beach.
The gloomy skies hanging over O’ahu didn’t stifle any of the thrill.
“We have light winds today, so surface conditions are great. And hopefully the current is in our favor,” stated Race Director Alex Webb.
Lifeguards and volunteers watched intently because the swimmers traveled the practically 2.38 mile course, previous the Natatorium and alongside Waikīkī.
“The current was a little bit against us, but if you could navigate around it or side it, it was fine,” Mary Frances Schwartz instructed us after she reached the shore.
“Going along the coastline it was pretty nice,” stated Kurt Metrose, who additionally completed the race. “It was like you could kind of body surf it a little bit. I was trying to time the strokes so I could glide.”
Stroke after stroke, the racers reached the end line on the sand at Duke Kahanamoku Beach.
“Coming back in this last quarter mile felt like swimming in honey,” defined Metrose. “It was really hard to come back. Just like you could see the finish line, but it was hard to pull in.”
“It’s such a wonderful event. It’s been going on for so many years and I just came back to swimming like a year and a half ago. I took like a six year hiatus. And it’s been, the water’s my church,” Schwartz stated.
Australians Duke Wieland and Suzanne Ryan took prime honors within the males’s and girls’s divisions.
Wieland’s time of 43:54 was simply shy of the course’s quickest time of 43:46 set by Alex Kostich in 2002.
Ryan completed the race at 45:50. And proper behind her was Honolulu teenager Kona Flanagan at 46:11. The 17-year-old has been competing within the Waikiki RoughWater Swim for the reason that age of 10.
“It was one of the fastest times I’ve ever done it. It was smooth going out. Going in I caught a wave, so it was pretty fun,” Flanagan stated as she celebrated.
And after a tricky morning exercise the swimmers had been able to refuel.
“There’s either like a loco moco in my future or some kind of Hawaiian plate with lau lau and kalua pork and poi,” Schwartz instructed us with a smile.
And Metrose couldn’t agree extra.
“You know, probably gonna eat a lot of food and take a nap,” he stated.
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