Athletes Gearing Up for Maui to Molokai Challenge

Photo by PF Bentley

By Léo Azambuja
In a couple weeks, more than 200 ocean athletes from all ages and at least 15 different nationalities will race across the challenging waters of what is considered the windiest of all inter-island channels. The Maui to Molokai Challenge — an ocean race more than 20 years old — kicks off this year’s Molokai Holokai Ho‘olaue‘a.
“It’s really about inspiring our kids that they can do good things; they can do great things. If it’s something they want to do, then go for it,” said Clare Albino, mastermind and organizer of the 27-mile race across Pailolo Channel.
Competitors will check in at 8 a.m. at Fleming Beach on Maui. The first race is scheduled to take off at 9:30 a.m. Different categories include stand up paddleboarding, outrigger canoes, surfski, SUP foil and wing foil. The first competitors should arrive at Molokai’s Kaunakakai’s Wharf at around 12:30 p.m. Mostly everyone will have arrived by 3 p.m., Albino said.
The finish line of the open ocean race is actually the beginning of something bigger; it is the opening event of the 2025 Molokai Holokai Ho‘olaue‘a – two days of sports competitions, live music, gathering, cultural workshops and environmental education.
While athletes will be racing from one island to another July 18, Sustainable Coastlines will be doing a beach cleanup in Kaunakakai. The awards ceremony for the race starts at 3 p.m. at the Molokai Community Health Center, with food available and live entertainment.
On July 19, the Holo 5K Fun Run, from Kawela Beach to One Ali‘i Beach Park, starts at 7 a.m. Then at noon, check in at Kamalo Harbor starts for the Kamalo Downwinder water race. Different watercrafts will race from Kamalo to the Community Health Center. Foil riders will finish at the wharf. At 3:45 p.m. the Keiki to Makua Race starts, from Mowat Homestead to the Community Health Center.
Live music at the Community Health Center starts 3 p.m., with the awards ceremony following the Keiki to Makua Race, soon after 4 p.m. There will be entertainment and dinner plates from food vendors until 8 p.m.
A former professional windsurfer, Albino created the Maui to Molokai Challenge in 2003. The race became part of a cultural event that changed and evolved over the years, but its core remained being about the kids and about inspiring a healthy community.
Despite the rough seas and strong currents in the 27-mile ocean race, several keiki take on the challenge. World-class big wave riders Kai Lenny, Zane Schweitzer and Connor Baxter participated in the challenge when they were young children, according to Albino. Her own children did too.
“My kids have all paddled across the (Pailolo) Channel. My son, Alex, was eight when he first did it. My daughter was 10, and my other girl, she was 14 when she did it,” Albino said.
Visit www.molokaiholokai.com for more information or to register for the races.